Thursday, August 30, 2012

Probably not Musically Inclined

Lil Shauna probably didn't get much of the Lim family's music genes. Daddy Lim's cousins play the various musical instruments really well and I was hoping that some of the musical genes make their way into our little ones. If any did get to Lil Shauna, it is probably not much. Lol.

Lil Shauna is still attending her Yahama Junior School and seems to enjoy. I would like to think that this is bcos I attend the class with her. Hehe.

There is singing of notes and reading of notes and also plenty of playing on the keyboard. There is also homework every week but the homework is really easy and can be completed in under 5 mins. However, the parents are required to practice with their kid at home. Luckily some of the tasks are merely to watch the DVD and sing along, which Lil Shauna has no problem at all. She needs no coaxing to watch TV, my kids are TV addicts. -.o" I do dread the keyboard practicing, Lil Shauna needs plenty of coaxing and the keyboard is really heavy and bulking. Setting it up and putting it away takes some effort.

There are some kids in Lil Shauna's class who can really hear the notes well. I am actually impressed. Lil Shauna seems to be memorizing the melody than hearing the notes. And of course, I don't think she had superb memory. I don't know if those kids are older but they look quite about the same as Lil Shauna.

I do hope that Lil Shauna persevere in her music lessons. However, this is purely for her enrichment and I wont pull hair or lose sleep if she decides otherwise. Unless if she decides to quit after we buy her an expensive piano. Faint.

Mummy Lim

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Lil Isaac's Way

Lil Isaac has a way with the 2 Grandmas and he really has them around his little finger.

Popo
Lil Isaac is the only grandson for now and that probably earned him some brownie points without him having to do anything. In addition, he calls Popo loud and clear and he calls her everywhere, right from when he wakes up to when we reached home (if Popo isnt with us). He looks for her when she is not around, asking “Popo where?” until when he finally found Popo.

NaiNai
Another classic case where he goes “NaiNai, NaiNai” and so ever endearing in front of NaiNai. NaiNai basically melts when he does that. NaiNai offers to feed Lil Isaac his dinner whenever we go over and never get tired carrying the boy. On Sun, he was fighting over the iPhone with jiejie and he snatched the phone from jiejie. Daddy Lim wanted to discipline him. Daddy Lim only raised his voice so slightly and the next moment, he was whipped off by NaiNai to safe land. Hohoho.

I cannot deny that Lil Isaac is at a super adorable age now. Parents usually have a special connection to the firstborn. However, they may dote more on the younger one and I realized that it is simply bcos humans are forgetful. We only indulge in the present and have forgotten how cute the firstborn was when the firstborn was at the same age. The younger one also gets his way as the older is expected to understand and give in.

An example. The kids love to sit on my lap. When Lil Shauna does that, I have to remind her that I am not a chair after awhile cos she is seriously not light. Yet, I am more willing for the little tiger to sit on my lap, simply bcos he is lighter. And he treats it as his rights. Sometimes, when jiejie is already on my lap, he bulges into our space, squeezes onto my lap and pushes jiejie away. Poor jiejie.

I hope that the siblings will grow up lovingly. I am full of envy whenever I see Mummy J blogging about how loving her kids are. I hear didi fighting with jiejie and jiejie yelling for me to look at what didi has done. -.o"

Mummy Lim

Interesting Things that Lil Shauna Says

Not very logical but…

ML: Baby, I love you.
LS: I love you too.
ML: I love you three.
LS: I love you four.
ML: I love you five.
LS: I love the tree, the chair, the flower… and everything. Bcos God also loves everything.

+++++++++
We were discussing about throwing tantrums.

LS: It is not a good thing to throw tantrum.
ML: Yah, only naughty kids throw tantrums, so jiejie cannot throw tantrum.
LS: Yah, if you throw tantrum, you must say sorry to God.
ML: Oh… Then did you say sorry to God when you throw a tantrum?
LS: Yes. When I throw tantrum, I will say sorry to God very softly. *shy*

I love all the things that Lil Shauna learns in her church school.

++++++++++
I brought Lil Shauna a new pink jumper suit. It is something different from her usual dressing style and she was really happy when she wore it on Sunday. So, she told me:

“Mummy, I am prettier than you today.”

Hohoho.

Mummy Lim

Thursday, August 23, 2012

The Lim Kids

Lil Isaac is into hitting people especially when he couldn't get what he wanted. That day, he was disciplined bcos he lost a fight with jiejie over a toy and he chased after jiejie to hit her. He cried so pitifully when I slapped his palm and I don't even think I used a lot of strength. *roll eyes*

So I told the kids that they are not supposed to hit other people/ each other. Lil Shauna then innocently told me that she didn't hit Lil Isaac back, at least not on that occasion. What??!!! I told her that I will discipline if she or didi hits somebody/ each other. She again innocently reply that when she does hit didi back, I am usually not around. What!!???? -.-" Parenting is not easy.

Well, the siblings have their good times as well. Didi insisted that jiejie holds his hand.

Mummy Lim

The Maid

Today is the 5th month that the maid is with us. Since she has survived this long, I supposed she has stablised, or so I hope. Sometimes, I really pity auntie. She has to take conflicting instructions from popo and me. Popo still insists that she didnt scold the maid but she sounded like she's ill-treating the maid even when she is giving simple instructions. So u can imagine how bad it is when she's angry.

I do not condone popo's doing but I tried not to interfere to avoid conflict with popo. Seriously, auntie doesn't deserved to be treated this way for that mere hundreds that she is receiving. Sadly, popo doesnt agree and treats auntie as if she has sold her life to us. I have told popo countless times but the message definitely didn't get across.

I hate it when she has to repeat what I said to auntie again but in her very sarcastic way. Does the maid understand popo's English better than mine? Why can't she just talk properly to the maid? I am not even asking her to talk nicely, just properly. Didn't she realise that the maids left largely bcos of her?

Popo is at cold war with me now. She insisted that I belittled her in front of auntie. Thus, auntie is not respecting her. Errr.. at the way that she "talks" to the maid, the maid dares to disrespect her? I couldn't be bother and if popo doesnt want to talk to me, so be it.

I already promised myself. If the maid quits, the kids are going to the childcare. Period. I look forward to the day that I will be maidless, then I can avoid handling popo and the maid issues after a long day at work.

Arggghhhhh.. Why do I have so many issues with my own mum? I am always telling Daddy Lim to remind me to meddle less in the kids' business when I grow old. And we must definitely keep our own place.

Mummy Lim

Sunday, August 19, 2012

Talking... Very Slowly

People say that boys have slower speech development. I don't know hor slow is slow but Lil Isaac is definitely much slower than jiejie. Lil Shauna could sing the entire ABC song when she was 19 months and was speaking very clear. She is always very advance in her speech and never fail to surprises us with her pronunciation and new words. Lil Isaac is barely speaking.

Lil Isaac started speaking really late and his speech isnt clear. I half suspect that he had delay speech and am wondering if I should bring him to a speech therapist. He has problem pronouncing many letters, with his "i" being more apparent. So he ended up making sound to substitute when a word has an "i" sound, like "ma-mi". And of course eats up his "s" and many other letters. He is definitely a hungry boy.

So, he hasn't started calling "mummy" yet. He calls popo, jiejie, ah yee, ah kim, even nono and the uncle on the street but just not me. Boo. Sometimes, he throws a fit when we couldnt understand what he wanted, typical of the terrible two phase. And we couldn't ask him to "speak properly" bcos he can't. I am already worried about how difficult he will be when he goes full force into his terrible two stage.

Recently, he improves. Well, he still doesn't speak properly but is beginning to string his words together. We heard him says things such as:

Gorgor kick ball.
Popo open door.
Isaac turn.
Isaac choose.
Bird bird bite muh (me).
I want main bao.

We are glad that he is beginning to express himself and hope that school will do him some good. Oh, he still cries in school everyday. However, he rushes to the teacher when she asks for volunteer. Lol.

We will monitor for a little while and see how it goes. If things are still bad when he turns 2, then we will probably look for help. I know that a speech therapist cannot prescribe medicine to cure him but at least can teach me ways to help him,

Nevertheless, he is still ever so cheeky and cute as a button.

Mummy Lim

Saturday, August 18, 2012

Disappointment

VW is such a disappointment. To think that I was all praise for it some time back. All it takes is for one front line staff to spoilt it all and totally thrashed the customer’s initial good impression. Tsk, tsk.. No wonder customer service is so important.

Tiggy is coming to 3 this September and its warranty will expire then. Last week, Daddy Lim mentioned that the engine icon lighted up on the dashboard. He called the VW service line and was asked to bring the car to the workshop. Daddy Lim especially took leave to send the car to the workshop, thinking that the car will be ready for collection by the end of the day.

He waited and called up VW in the early afternoon to check the status. To his dismay, he was told that they couldn’t find the fault and thus didn’t do anything to Tiggy. Tiggy was simply sitting in the workshop the whole morning and VW didn’t bother to call us. Daddy Lim spoke to the service technician who has a really bad attitude and was fuming mad. They subsequently called to inform that it was probably some sensor fault and the spare part has to be flown in. The spare part would take about 2 weeks to arrive. Daddy Lim was given the choice to take Tiggy home or leave it in the workshop. We chose to bring Tiggy home after being advised that it should be OK to drive, just not to ram the engine too hard. Our Jazzie didn’t give us any problem when it was 3. -.o”

On Tuesday, right before Daddy Lim was to fly off, the engine icon started flashing and Daddy Lim said that the engine was vibrating very hard. I didn’t feel anything though. Lol. He called up WV and they advised against driving and Tiggy was towed to the workshop. He was again told that the spare part will take about a week to come in. We decided against renting a car as it would be cheaper for me to take taxi.

Yday, I thought that I called up WV to check on Tiggy. The same service technician spoke to me and gave the same answer, that the spare part is not in and it is still that 2 or 3 weeks timeline as conveyed to Daddy Lim. I SMSed Daddy Lim to update and he asked me to check with VW if they could supply us with a courtesy car.

That was when I started turning into a monster customer. I was told by the hotline admin that I could get a courtesy car if they have one to spare. Otherwise, they would substitute with 2 x $35 taxi vouchers per day. I was then referred to the same service technician who spoke with Daddy Lim earlier on. He told me that there is no courtesy car available. I asked about the taxi voucher and he said that we are not eligible as ours is a cost repair. I blew bcos he didn’t know his facts. Tiggy is still under warranty and not a cost repair. I started attacking and demanding for my courtesy car or taxi vouchers, backdating all the way to the day that we sent our Tiggy in. I insisted that we didn’t know that there was such a “goodwill” service and that was bcos he didn’t advised us so. He eventually agreed to give me my taxi vouchers, backing to Thursday and said that he would send them to my office. I was happy but maintained my aloof and stern tone even towards the end of the conversation. Well, I did thank him.

He called me again at 5pm yday to say that he couldn’t send me the taxi vouchers bcos his driver wasn’t free. *(&(*&^&^$%@#$!$%^... Who cares if his driver was free???? Then he said that maybe Tiggy would recover today bcos the spare part had actually arrived but he was unable to check earlier on bcos his computer system was down. What!!???

The arrangement was for VW to make sure that Tiggy is well today. They closed at noon but has made arrangement for us to collect the Tiggy from the workshop (from the Security) in the evening. The service technician also promised that he will give us taxi vouchers should Tiggy be still sick. Otherwise, we could collect Tiggy today and VW will also give us $50 service rebate for every day that Tiggy was in the workshop.

Was I impressed? No… Not at all. I had to fight all the way for my rights, which VW insisted that it was actually goodwill gesture. That service technician thrashed all my good impression for VW. Haiz. It further reinforces one thing – nasty customers get more than kind ones. Roar.. I am still sore over VW not telling/ offering us the courtesy car/ taxi voucher. Otherwise, I would have taken taxi the last few days, creating spending to help boost e economy. Chey.

Mummy Lim

Survived!

Yeah, Daddy Lim is coming back today! Hehehe.
We survived alright and pretty well too. Actually, it was just 3 nights and the first night, Popo tucked Lil Isaac to bed. The last 2 nights, we spent time together and gave jiejie an iPad when it was time to tuck Lil Isaac to bed. After the tiger slept, jiejie and I played a little more iPad before putting her to bed. We all slept on the 2 tiny mattresses and I am amazed at how my kids play catching in their sleep. Each time I woke up, they are in a different position. Sometimes, they ended up totally switching places.

Daddy Lim will be touching down at 4pm and will join us outside. Lil Shauna misses Pappy badly and she actually counted down. When he left, she asked me how many days Pappy will be away and I told her 4. Since then, each evening that I see them, she will minus one day and actually knew that Pappy is coming back today. She also told me that we should run to Pappy, call him really loud and give him a big hug when we see tomorrow. Awwww… Pappy will surely feel really loved when he hears this. Lil Isaac didn’t seem to notice much that Daddy Lim is not around. Hehe.

It wasn’t that tough to manage the kids at bedtime without Daddy Lim. Jiejie suffers a little cos I have to throw her the iPad while tucking didi to bed. I think she benefits more on normal days with all the monkeying before bed. Too much iPad is no good. But of course she isn’t complaining. There are so many things to watch on the Youtube and so many games to play on the iPad. These few nights also serve as a good practice for me. Daddy Lim will probably go into 2-month night shift sometime next year. I hope I will survive then.

Mummy Lim

Thursday, August 16, 2012

Day 1

Daddy Lim touched down Bangkok safely yday afternoon and began his 3-hour ride to his destination. I managed to get a ride to work from a colleague and hitch a ride from another colleague to the MRT at the end of the day. I had dinner at Centris, spent some time with the kids and brought Lil Shauna to her music class. Lil Isaac cried badly bcos only jiejie got to stay with mummy and Popo was bringing him home.

Lil Shauna enjoys her class and we took the MRT home after class. She was very cooperative and I totally enjoy her company. Lil Isaac was already asleep by the time we were home. It was Popo’s tactic, so that there will be less mess, fight and cry when we reached home. I was more than grateful.

We “watched” some story books on iPad, some Youtube and tucked Lil Shauna to bed. We all slept in the kids’ room last night. Maybe after these few days, Lil Shauna will get used to sleeping with didi and continue to do so thereafter. Am I dreaming? Hehehehe.

So, the first day went smoothly. There are just 3 more days to go and we did just fine. Actually, I am very glad that Tiggy is down and I do not have to drive. Otherwise, I have to add undue stress to my already stressful life. Going to work will be even more painful then. Hohoho.

No car this weekend. Where should we go?

Mummy Lim

Finally Decided

*Post written a few days ago.*

Lil Isaac went down to TP 653 on Wednesday. Popo called to say that our friend cried. He is racist. He didn’t even step into the classroom. So he is confirmed to start school at TP 661.

He went for almost 1.5hr of class on Wednesday was also in red and white. Popo said that he didn’t cry initially until somebody accidentally bumped into him. Aiyo.. we must have been over protective. Like that also cry. And he didn’t stop crying until snack time. Bleeehhhh..

Popo said that Lil Isaac spent most of his time walking around and not participating much. So unlike jiejie. He seemed to have enjoyed himself, which is the most important. Popo stayed in the class with him and will soon have to let go for him to learn independence.

Going to school must have been hard work. Lil Isaac was knocked out for the next 2 hours. He didn’t even stir even with nono’s barking. Hohoho. Next year, Lil Isaac will be going to jiejie’s school and will attend the afternoon session, which may mean that he willnot be able to have any nap. I don’t know how things will work out. Scary.

Mummy Lim