Time Killer

His latest "time killer" while waiting for food to be served

I dug out my Archie's Comics collection of about 150+ copies from the 80's from our old house and kept them in the store room.  My boy was so excited when I showed him those comic books on his last day of school.  LOL.. 

He was at the living hall reading one now and once in a while he would let out a hilarious and infectious laugh whenever the contents of the comics tickled his funny bones.  It sounds something like this... Hahahaha.. Hehehehe... Wuakakakka....  Muahahahahaha..  That's our funny boy. LOL....

What We Did Last Week

I have no fixed timetable for my boy this time as opposed to the last three school holidays where a timetable was set and strictly adhered to but I do make sure he practices his maths in the morning and Chinese reading and writing in the evening.  I am not so concerned about his English as he loves reading and in the process, picks up the language naturally.  I only have to let him do some grammar exercises once a week.  So far, he has learned addition, subtraction within 1000 and multiplication charts of 2 and 3.  Hahaha... allow me to be a bit "kiasu" here.  These are all syllabus for standard 2 which he will only be learning in school next year. 

As far as I know, "smart kids" nowadays learn one year ahead of their current syllabus, they are already learning standard 2 syllabus when they are in standard 1, well, at least smart kids in my boy's class do that.  One school term into primary 1, my boy came back and asked if I could teach him multiplication.  Peer pressure, I guess.  The gang he hangs around with, three of them being in the top 5 in class go to the same tuition center.  They like playing math quizzes and chanting multiplication charts like a poem.  My poor boy could not do most of them simply because they were not taught at home by his teacher mommy, at least not yet.  See my point, multiplication will not be taught until standard 2 but those young chaps are already chanting away.  Well, if you can't beat them, join them.  :)

Coming back to what we did last week, we had watched two movies so far, Harry Potter 7 and Rapunzel A Tangled Tale.  We have also started him on a twice a week swimming lessons finally.  No TV during weekdays still applies but TV day has now been extended to Sunday from Saturday.  In other words, more readings during weekdays when he gets bored drawing and playing with his toys but literally no reading at all during weekends when he gets busy with his PSP, computer games and watching TV.

Write To Santa HoHoHo!!

My boy wrote an email to Santa via email Santa, with a little help from mommy last year.  He was beaming with joy and excitement when he got a reply from "Santa"!  He wanted to do it again this year. What can be nicer than to show your kids how to write a letter/email to Santa?   A Christmas Santa Letter will not take long to write, will bring a smile to a child's face and will enhance the Christmas and holiday festive spirit.  By helping him write a letter to Santa, I will be able to make sure that I really know what he would like for a Christmas gift. *grins* 

I am sure he will do it again when he is free, oh yes, today is TV day and he is busy watching the transformers DVD collections that we bought him at Popular warehouse sale in Summit Shopping Mall yesterday. :)

A Brief School Tour

We went back to my boy's school last Tuesday to get his uniform and PE shirt.  I prefer those sold at the school with school badge ready than getting the badge for RM0.60 each at the bookshop and iron-on myself like ipage.com coupons. Lazy mama here. Hahaha...  The school was as usual bustling with activities eventhough school holiday had already started as the primary 1 (for next year) and primary 5 students were having their enrichment classes  and additional classes respectively.

While we were there, my boy gave me a tour of his classroom for next year.  It is located on the 1st floor, not 2nd floor as I was previously told by my boy and the class teacher.  Apparently, the school management has decided to move all classes of standard 2 to 1st floor by converting the 2 bigger rooms previously used as science labs to house 50 pupils in each classroom for the two classes.  *sweat*  I know both my boy and the mommy must work extra hard so that he will not end up last in the class. Imagine having to maintain at least 96% in overall performance in order to stay in the class is simply no easy task!  If only he could improve on his handwriting and check his work more often.  Yes, if only.... 

A note of reminder to myself:  I just hope and pray that I will not turn into a monster mommy in the process and succumbed to the "kiasuness" attitude.  The last thing I want to hear from my boy is "I hate to go to school"..

1st Swimming Lesson

Practising frog kicking

He was taught some breathing exercise and frog kicks on the first day and he seemed to enjoy it very much.  I just googled some you tube clips for him to view on different swimming styles and he was all excited about them especially butterfly style. LOL...  He will be having his second lesson tomorrow and yes, we signed him up for the twice a week lessons and hopefully he can at least stay afloat in water before the school starts again next year.  What??  In 6 weeks' time?  Am I too optimistic or is it too tall an order for my boy?  Well, we'll see. :P

My Poor Mama..

I have been on the phone with my sister these two days since mama's admission to the local hospital back in Sabah.  Mama is admitted for her yearly colonoscopy procedure, the previous one being done at UMMC exactly a year ago.  Having overheard our conversation, my boy was curious about his popo's condition and had been asking if it was Cancer that landed popo in hospital.

Ian: Mommy, when I grow up, I want to become a creator (scientist) and make a machine that can suck all the cancer (cells) out from popo's body.
Mommy: *Amused* How boy? How do you go about that?
Ian: I will put a device (wonder where he learned this word from) on popo's wrist and it will do its job by sucking all the cancer (cells) out from the body.
Mommy: *mumbles* If only it could be that simple, boy..

My poor mama is still in the hospital after undergoing the procedure last evening.  The report was out and they found some polyps or was it just a single tiny one in her remaining colon, she had a hemicoloctemy 18 months ago.  They had taken some samples for biopsy.  I only have this little information from my sister and hopefully she can get an elaborated one tomorrow.  Having undergone a CT scan 6 months ago in Kota Kinabalu with an all clear result, I am quite positive that the polyps found in mama's colon would likely be benign (non cancerous).  My poor mama cannot possibly endure another round of chemo treatment.   Now I really hope there's really a machine that can suck all those evil trouble makers out from mama's body...

Kenny Rogers Quarter Meals@Genting

The small boy's order - with original sauce + double portion of Macaroni & Cheese and mashed potato/gravy.  Macaroni & Cheese has always been his favourite so he has no problems polishing off everything except with some chicken meat left which ended up in daddy's tummy. :)

Daddy's order - black pepper sauce with side dishes of coleslaw, potato salad and garlic parsley potato.  Daddy commented that the black pepper sauce was the best among three.

My order topped with smoked bbq sauce and side dishes of mashed potatoes, fruits and coleslaw - The gravy was a little bit too sweet to my liking.

Our shares of muffins

We only paid RM30 for the meals as we have a buy 2 free 1 and RM20 vouchers to offset the total bill of around RM70++.  We only ordered a glass of milk shake (not in pic) for my boy.  I always have a bottle of water in my bag.  Well, I don't mind paying for the food but imagine 2 glasses of drinks equivalent to a main dish, No, thank you.  Hahaha.. this is how "kiam siap" I am. Overall, not too bad huh averaging to only about RM10 per person of course with vouchers la..

Signing Off with a Colgate advertisement. LOL..

Car Caught On Fire!

Bursting into flames

Thick, black smoke billowing from the burning car

We caught this on camera when heading down from Genting last Saturday.   No other cars were involved except this Renault MPV that went up in flames in the middle of the road heading up Genting and it led to a massive jam that stretched few kilometres down the scene.

This accident flashes back memory when I first got my first car, a Proton Satria, 15 years ago.  The incident happened just two weeks after collecting my "brand new" car.  I was only about a km from home when smoke started coming out from the air-cond blower of my car and that really scared the hell out of me.  I quickly turned off the air-cond.  With the smoke still coughing out, I continued my journey home.  I called Proton the moment I got home and was asked to take the car back for inspection and the result....  There was wiring problems with some of the cars of my batch and a rewiring was the only solution.  O.O.  I thought I saw a QC approved sticker somewhere on my car window.  And it took them 2 weeks to fix things up.  I should count my blessing though that the car didn't go up in flames instantly like the above incident. ^_^

All Time Favourite!

His all time fav - roti telur with dhal

This pose came naturally the moment I said "look here".   He knows oh so well that he has to pose for the camera before getting to dig into his favourite food..... in peace. That's it.  LOL...

What Can We Do In Genting?

Yup, we are going to Genting again tomorrow for 3 Days / 2 Nites stay.  Sounds boring huh?  It does sound kind of boring to me since I don't gamble.  We have unutilized free rooms and cash credits in the holiday card though I think nothing there would ever tickle my fancy after my many many trips there over the years. Yawnz.. Ok, I exaggerate a bit.  Back to the hotel room, we didn't manage to get a room at Resorts Hotel this time as it was a last minute decision and had to settle for First World Hotel. 

After some research and blog hopping, here's what I have come up with to keep us entertained throughout our stay there.

1) Karaoke, used to frequent alot and that's how I learned my cacat-ed Mandarin.
2) Ripley's Believe it or not!
3) Indoor & Outdoor Theme Park (this one is a must go if you bring kids along)
4) Visit Their cineplex for the 1st time for "Harry Potter"
5) Bowling
6) Water Park (A must go to for kids)
7) Window shopping at First World Plaza

Ok, now the trip does sound more convincing, No?  Lol...

How I Wished Tomorrow's A School Day!

That's what my boy had told me a moment ago.  Tuesdays had always been his fun day at school and something that he looked forward to ... simply because  his two favourite lessons PE and Computer fell on the same day, coincidently.

Time flies and in a blink of an eye my boy is going to standard 2 next year.  I hope his desire and enthusiasm in going to school would continue to live on.

Last Day Of School!

Yippie!!!  Today is the last day of school.  I am soo looking forward to this day to come and it's finally here.  There are lots of things that we can do together.  Here, wishing everyone:

Happy School Holidays!

Trolley Or Backpack?

Having his catered food at the school canteen

The boy's classroom for next year will be on the top floor of the school 3-storey building.  Just imagine he has to drag his heavy schoolbag up and down the flights of staircase everyday. :(  On his report card day, I did briefly asked his class teacher for ideas.  She suggested a back pack and a hand-carry bag but my boy insisted he should have a trolley bag instead.  The previous Ben 10 trolley bag that we bought early this year has seen better days with holes and tears everywhere after one year usage, but then his classroom was on ground floor, more gentle handling and that probably explains its "longer" lifespan.  I heard from some mothers that their kids' school bags had to be replaced every few months due to wear and tear eventhough they're from reputable brands like Swan. *scary*

He is placed in one of the two elite classes (more hair pulling moments for the mommy) where the top 100 of the whole standard will be mixed and equally divided and that literally means they will have 50 pupils each in these two classes.  Not too sure though if they will shrink the number of classes as the average size for each class in primary 1 was only 40-42 with 9 classes.  The rest of the classes will be a mix of fairly strong and weaker pupils.  It's good that they mix the students and not grouped according to academic performance for these classes where the stronger can help the weaker ones.  And also many thanks to all of you who shared your views on class streaming in my previous post entry.  I really appreciated it.

Back to the choice of school bag for next year,  trolley bag or backpack + 1 handcarry bag? Hmmmm..

Class Streaming

Like it or not, the day has come when my boy is going to be separated from some of his buddies in class as his school practises class streaming based on year-end academic performance.  Throughout the year, he has made bunch of friends, friends who would help him empty the class dustbins when he runs out of time doing it on his duty day, friends who would keep a copy of the teaching materials for him when he is absent from his Hanyupinyin class, friends who would keep his books for him when school time is almost over and he's busy with his teacher's assigned tasks and the list goes on.  He assured me that's  fine with him as he gets to make new friends.  I know he's going to miss his buddies as he always tells me that he's indeed lucky to have friendly classmates.

I am a parent who dislike this kind of streaming process in young learners because I don't want my kid (or rather the mother in that matter) to be pressured when it comes to academic learning at this stage.  Though I agree that they will eventually be subject to peers' pressure when they join the competitive world out there one day but why the hurry? But then, take it or leave it.. *sighs*

Today is report card day and my boy has been reminding me to come during recess time (parent-teacher meeting starts right after recess) so that I can be with him at the canteen. :)

His New Toy

A project by the father and son.  We bought the aquarium with the filter and lamp thrown into the package deal from Pets Wonderland at Ikano Power.  The father changed the lighting though, to UV lighting said to have the function in killing germs in the water.

The two boys went shopping for fishes and accessories last Sunday.  I have been drumming into my boy's head that rearing fish is a long term commitment and he has to ensure he feeds them daily and it's time to clean the tank when the water starts to get dirty and cloudy. 

While in the petshop choosing his aquarium, my boy chanced upon some ugly looking fishes sticking on the glass walls of some of the many aquariums there.  He was so excited he started pointing at the fishes and told me about the name of the fish: Sucker Mouth Cat Fish, something he read from The Young Scientist.  He said he wanted to bring one or two of them home because they were "useful".  They feed on moss and dirts and by doing this, it cleans the tank.  I didn't have a clue what's that all about and when the father heard this, he said,"Oh, the bandaraya fish".  LOL..

Now he has two pairs of don't know what name fishes, probably "longkang" fish and one suckermouth cat fish.  Hahaha.. sucker mouth catfish... sounds cool pronouncing it. ;P

Melaka River Cruise

This is a backdated post.

Our first stop in Malacca: We headed for the river Cruise, the moment we set foot there around 1pm. Our concern was the weather which has been unpredictable these days and it might shower anytime though I thought a night river cruise would sound even more alluring as we could see light bulbs strung everywhere on new and old heritage buildings as well as on trees that lined the 4.5 km stretch of the river.

I still remember our last trip to Malacca was with my elder brother's family 7 years ago.  Ian was still an infant then.  Other than the red square, it didn't seem appealing to me, the river in particular, which was in a sorry state with garbage half buried in muds at low tides and the stench smell from the stinking river was simply unbearable. Yucks..

Things have changed this time when we were there, from bad to good if not better.  We were impressed by the amazing transformation.  From a river which was once muddy and choked with floating garbage, it has been transformed into a beautiful river and throughout the boat ride, we can see beautifully lined pedestrian pathways built alongside the river.

I shall let the pictures do the talking now.

We embarked from Taman Rempah, a good choice as it's lesser crowd here compared to the one near maritime museum.

The options/package offered

While boarding the boat, we were told by a friendly staff that by paying for VIP tickets of RM20 (adults) and RM10 (children), we got unlimited one day hop-on hop-off rides.   Didn't sound convincing to me though as there were only two embarkation/disembarkation points.

The route of the boat ride

The waiting area

While waiting for the boat ride

Enjoying the boat ride and the view, not choppy and thrilling like the ones we had in Bangkok on the long-tail boat but still... good.

Monorail train rides over a stretch of 1.6 km alongside the river from Taman Rempah to Tamming Sari, the revolving tower, another tourist attraction.  Started operating on 20 Oct 2010, two days before we were there. We didn't go on this either.

The water mill

Tamming Sari from afar, didn't go on this one as we had a similar one at Ocean Park, HK few years ago.

Another on-going hotel project, looks like a huge hotel to me

Wanted to stay here, our 3rd or 4th choice before the first two, but all fully-booked. :(

My Little Environmentalist

When I was preparing the food for my boy's Children's Day party last week, I had those cocktail sausages cut into heart shapes.  My boy was happy at this stage looking on while I did the cutting. When it came to the stage where toothpicks were needed to hold the "hearts" in place, he commented.

Ian: Mommy, Don't use toothpicks.
Mommy:  Not toothpicks, what then to hold the two ends together?
Ian: Save the woods and the trees.  Just eat like that la... no need to cut.
Mommy: *_* *Boy, you make your old mom feels so bad*

I have to give the credit to daddy for his "undying love" towards recycling. The boy gets the influence from his old man.    They would keep whatever deemed recyclables until the condo runs out of of space and that's when the old lady aka yours truly starts nagging.  Only then the trash would be transported to our old house in Puchong.  Part of the living hall of our old house is now being occupied to store the recycling items before sending to the recycling center.  Proceeds from the recycling will then go to this little boy called Ian.  His wallet is getting fatter by the month. Lol.... 

The Night View Of Melaka River

Children's Day Party@School

Recycled Picture

My boy is having fun at school now.  His school is celebrating Children's Day today, postponed from last Friday.  A week before the day, he asked if I could make jellies and sausages to share with his classmates. I of course said yes as it was super duper easy to prepare. 

It's also a No uniform and No school bag day. Yay to the kids!  They get to wear whatever they like to school, not in Batman, Superman, Ben 10 or whatsoever costumes though. LOL.  My boy wore his favourite Ben 10 T-shirt and long military pants with matching Ben 10 shoes to school.  He couldn't wait to go to school just now and kept bugging me to send him to school. *rolleyes* I am sure my boy and his classmates will have loads of fun at school and hopefully no one, my boy included, gets overly excited or misbehaved and end up at one corner of the classroom... ear-squatting.  :)

He has a birthday party to attend at KizSports & Gym in 1 Utama tomorrow morning.  This is the second birthday invitation this year from his classmates but he gets lesser invites now compared to kindy days. I wonder why.

Last but not least, there's a long weekend ahead in conjunction of Deepavali.  Here wishing everyone:

 A Happy Deepavali

& Happy Holidays!

He Earned It!

When he got his 3 exam papers (Chinese, English & Science) back last week, my boy was disappointed as he didn't get a single full score in any of the papers.  The previous related post is here.  He scored 95% and above in the 3 papers with Science (Chinese) scoring 99%. Hahaha..  Sei mou.. only one mark away to qualify for the reward.  To reward or not to reward him?  In fact, I wanted to get him the aquarium even before we tied the deal but I thought it would a good idea to make him earn it so that he would appreciate his reward more.

My boy makes us proud as he didn't appeal nor did he attempt to sweet talk us into getting it anyway.  He knows and accepts he will not get the reward if the conditions are not met and he is perfectly ok with it.  Nevertheless, deep down, my heart melted when I looked at his sad face and tempted to get it for him.  Daddy advised me against it saying I would convey the wrong message if I went ahead and got him his reward even when the expectation was not met.  Well, he has got his points there and since my boy didn't make a fuss, I took it as fate but my mind was working hard trying to convince myself to get him the aquarium anyway... Hmmm... as X'mas gift perhaps. LOL...

Last evening, when I went to pick him up from school, while walking back to the car,

Ian : Mommy, I have something very exciting to tell you. 
Mommy: Yes?
Ian: Wait until we get into the car.. something very exciting! This cheeky boy of ours.  How much he wanted to keep me in suspense but unfortunately his tone has betrayed him. Hahaha..  As soon as he gets into the car, he digs out his BM paper. Deng.. deng..  I got 100%!  Can we go and buy the aquarium now?
Mommy: We must go home, eat, shower and then go with daddy.
Ian: Yay!

We are so happy for him, not because of the 2 exam papers that he aced but the taste of success has definitely given a huge boost to his confidence.... this is what matters and it's priceless..

Love-Hate Relationship

On few occasions my boy would come home and tell me in an "angry" tone that he hates his class teacher for reprimanding him... usually for talking in class. 

This morning, he asked me this question:

Ian : Mommy, will Teacher Leong (his class teacher) be our class teacher again in Standard 2?
Mommy: I don't think so, boy.  Do you like Teacher Leong?
Ian: Sure. I like her.
Mommy: But I thought you told me you didn't like her?
Ian:  I hate her but I like her too ma.
Mommy: *_*

**********************

Fifi... A Loyal Companion

Fifi sitting on my boy's "personal pillow" during

our recent trip to Malacca

Fifi, my boy's loyal companion aka sleeping partner aka best friend ever since he was 18 months old.  Gung Gung bought this Snoopy soft toy for him from Watson's Mid Valley.  You will see him dragging Fifi along wherever he goes... not so much now compared to when he was a toddler when he couldn't sleep without him.. but still.. day in and day out, Fifi will be dragged along for a short ride to school, when we go out and particularly everywhere.  On our every trip back to Sabah, Gung Gung would put up a smiling face when he sees his grandson dragging Fifi along.. Definitely money well-spent huh, pa.. ;P

How did the name come about?  Here the story goes..

When my boy was younger, he had problems pronouncing words such as Gung Gung being pronounced as Dung Dung, Goh Goh as Doh Doh and subsequently Snoopy as Fifi.. and this name has been officially registered ever since.  We are glad we found our boy a childhood companion, some little childhood memories to cherish when he grows up.