I Prove It Then!!!

The boy came home with lotsa homework last night.  He started from 8pm until 12 midnight and yet not able to finish all.  I let him do his one page of BM workbook this morning seeing him so drained and exhausted with sleepy and red eyes.  I then questioned him if his teachers gave them time to do the work in school and he answered, YES!  *slaps forehead*. 

He likes to draw and has his own "game book" where he designs and draws all kinds of games from shops selling toys,sundries, monsters to computer games.  Everytime when he showed me his "creation", I wondered how on earth he had so much time to draw in school but never did it crossed my mind that he used the time given by his teachers to do his homework in school to do just that.

Mommy: Then what do you do in school when teacher gives you time to do your work? *My voice raised as it was way past our bedtime and I was nursing a headache*

Ian: *shrugs his shoulder and look at me with guilt*

Mommy: I am very disappointed with you.  Just because you don't bother to finish as much of homework as possible in school, now that mommy has to stay awake with you till midnight.  I know I am a bad mommy, can't even teach the son to plan his work.

Ian: *tears well up* NO! You are a good mommy! Only that I am bad!

Mommy: How can I call myself a good mommy when I have a bad son?

Ian: I will prove it! You are a good mommy!! *tears start rolling down*

Sometimes, I really don't know whether to scold him or praise him..  He will never allow anyone to call his mommy a bad mommy but he can bear being (self) called a bad son.

This morning, I saw a note written on his easel, "I proof it then!!!"  Prove being written as proof and ends with 3 exclamation marks!!!

Let's see.. Hahaha.. Ya, I know I am a bad mommy..

Dim Sum @Celestial Court, Sheraton Imperial KL

At the pavilion before entering the restaurant

We went for halal dim sum at Celestial Court last Sunday.   It is one of our favourite places for dim sum and I blogged about it here previously.

The restaurant opens at 10am and we were their first customers for that day.

siew mai with mini abalone and fish roe

Pan fried carrot cakes with XO sauce?  I am not a fan of carrot cakes but the father

and son finished off two portions of the dish.

The XO sauce

Chicken Pau

Har Gau (prawn dumplings)

Deep fried bean curd rolls

Seafood porridge with prawns, fish and scallops

The condiments.. fried crab stick, yau char kwai, salted veges

My bowl of porridge

My happy boy

Keeping himself occupied with crossword puzzles

Complimentary cheese cake and a bottle of red wine (not in pic)

The bill came to only RM50 after spg card discount and a RM50 cash rebate voucher.  The food was good and satisfying as always.  The cheese cake which we brought home is very creamy and not too sweet which I like and I had 2 slices for breakfast this morning.  I still have half a cake in the fridge. Burps.. :) 

Subang SS15 Rojak & Cendol @ PJ State

My plate of rojak - RM4.50

I send the boy to his Aikido class every Saturday afternoon.  It's an one hour class but most of the time it drags until  1 1/2 hours or later.  On some days, I will bring a book and sit on the seats provided for parents while waiting for him.  On other days, I will drive a short distance to this mamak restaurant selling only rojak and cendol.   

The signboard of the restaurant reads Subang SS15 Rojak & Cendol but I am not sure if they are related to the famous rojak stall in SS15.  Anyone cares to enlighten?

Cendol.. soo refreshing!  RM1.70

Supper Time..

We hardly have meals outside during weekdays especially school days as we have a pretty tight routine.  Dinner will be at 7pm and after shower, comes homework time from 8pm to 10pm.  The boy will do some reading for half an hour before calling it a day.  This has been our daily routine since the boy started primary 1 last year.

Daddy called home the evening after the boy's exam was over and wanted to take his son out for a meal.  He reached home around 9+pm so it would be supper then.  We went to the neighbourhood Pizza Hut outlet and ordered these.

Cheese-baked meatballs.. didn't expect the portion to be this big as this is part of the

kiddies' set.

We ordered 2 personal pizzas and the boy wiped off one of them. Gosh..

He is already the heaviest and tallest in class.. imagine if he has supper regularly..

sure get upgraded to be the fattest in class.

Tropical Fizz

Iced Milo

I only had a slice of pizza and few sips of Iced Milo as I was still full from my 7pm dinner at home.  I don't eat much nowadays or should I say I get to choose the food I eat compared to those working days, due to my work nature, I had to stuff myself with lots of fast food. 

His First Aikido Test

The boy is having his first 8th kyu Aikido Test end of this month.   He is quite excited about it and even drew out the steps on his own initiative, without being told.  I first signed him up for the unlimited classes package but we barely made it there twice a week due to time constraint so now he goes there once a week instead.

I am happy to see that he is slowly showing interest in the martial art after 5 months.  At some time during the earlier stage, he found having to practise the same steps repetitively dull and boring but this is what Aikido is about, its technique is very subtle and usually requires long time of practice until you get it right.  Unlike Taekwando that practises on strikes and kicks, Aikido practises more on twirling and twisting and as it progresses, the use of weapons like sword and staff.

Other than his Aikido lessons, he has his Robotics and Hanyu Pinyin classes at his school every Saturday and Sundays are his only rest day but not for long as I intend to send him back to Sunday school in the neighbourhood but the mommy has to complete the induction and buddishm course (4 sessions of 3 hours each) before he will be accepted.

On another note, I got this from my boy few days before Mother's Day, a tad backdated but I want this recorded in the blog.

Awww..  Sweet..

My Honest Boy..

The moment my boy saw me at the school compound when I went to fetch him this evening, he blurted out.. "Mommy, I got most of my papers back except English, all careless mistakes". See, he knows his own weakness!!  Blek..  He then showed me his test papers in the car, all 90% and above, most marks lost on careless mistakes yet again.  Overall, he fared better than 1st term test.  

He went on and told me he spotted mistakes in two papers where the teacher had given him marks to his otherwise wrong answers, so bye-bye 3 marks.. I was like What!! Not Again!! You should have shown me the papers first before highlighting to teacher.  Teacher wouldn't know if you didn't highlight to her.  *bad mommy* but I just couldn't help it.  The moment I blurted out those words, I regretted as what followed was:

Ian : So, mommy.. you don't want me to be a good boy meh.. Were you a bad girl back then?  Teacher praised me for being an honest boy..  Bla..bla.. bla..

Mommy: .....................

I think I have a too decent boy here.  How is he going to cope in this cruel world when he grows up?  Oh, well.. Or am I thinking too much already?

Happy Teacher's Day!

Mini potted plant for his class teacher which we decorated ourselves

I heart the border stickers bought from Daiso.. Love it!

Fried chicken fingers

The boy's school is celebrating Teacher's Day this afternoon and the above decorated mini pot of plant is a gift for his class teacher.  He requested for fried chicken fingers to be brought to school and shared with his classmates so it's easy peasy work for me. :)

Happy Teacher's Day!

Exam Is Over Today

Thanks all for your comments in my previous post.  That wasn't a rant post and I have no qualms about my boy's performance in his studies.  In fact, coming from a non-Mandarin speaking family and with only a "setengah masak Chinese knowledge" mother cum home tutor to coach him, I am quite pleased that he can survive well so far in a SJKC.   Despite the fact that he has to complete his loads of homework daily, there isn't a day that he is reluctant to go to school. 

He is still mama's boy in one way or another but lately he starts to have his own opinion and will not always do as told, at times answering back.  His exhaustion and impatience having to complete his "daily homework marathon" shows from the way he does his homework, not bothered to check his work and his handwriting going downhill from getting stars from teachers to not getting any. 

I see this as a sign of stress as this boy of mine may not be ready to take on heavy loads of homework and revision daily, not yet.  I have this in mind to let him learn at his own pace with the equal amount of attention given than pushing him hard when he is in std 3 next year.  We will be able to know and compare what works the best for him then.

On another note, my boy adores his class teacher.  His class teacher once told the class that her family was poor when she was young and could not even afford a proper pen.  When  he saw her writing with a broken pen the other day, he went to the school bookstore the next day to get her a new pen after getting my permission the night before.  He adores her so much as she always tells them motivational and funny stories and hardly punishes them over small matters.  That explains why he has loads of homework this year compared to last year (different class teacher) where the no-nonsense teacher would get them to copy answers.  I heard this teacher is still doing the same and hence lesser homework for her class while my boy will have to do the homework with the help from his home tutor aka me.  Good and bad..  There are only the revision part to do when answers are already given minus time spent looking for answers from internet and e-dictionary.  But then, I don't think it's a long term solution to be spoon fed with answers now that they are in std 2. That leaves me no choice but to conclude that hardwork and perseverence is the only key to success.  *more hair pulling moments*

Once my boy and his classmates were caned on the palms by their class teacher for getting some spelling words wrong.  My boy came home with cane marks clearly visible on his palm.  He got 5 canes for 5 spelling mistakes.  I asked if he cried and he answered yes as he really couldn't take the pain.  I continued with my question and asked him if he still likes her.  He said a firm YES and even sided her saying that it was for their own good.  *roll eyes*  This teacher must have something special within her, No? Or was it the magic wand that did the trick?

Coming back to exam, it's finally over! Woohooo!! Not for long though but what the heck... Let us all forget about the never ending exams for now and enjoy the approaching 2 weeks' school holidays.

Can't wait to attend a birthday picnic this Sunday morning.  We are off to get some birthday presents for the birthday boys and girl in 2 hours' time. ;)

He Knows His Numbers..

He came back yesterday telling me that he scored 93% in his computer test paper.  He got 92% for his BM Penulisan paper but a lot of his classmates scored full mark.  Today is the 2nd day of the first semester test, one more day to go but this boy of mine has already concluded that he could be in the bottom 10 of the class of 50.  A mother knows his son best..  Being a careless and easily distracted boy, he tends to rush through his work and it's not surprising to see him losing marks to all kinds of careless mistakes!  One side of my kiasuness tells me to impose physical punishment for every mark lost, like what some parents in his class do but another side of me feels sorry for him. 

Life has been busy and hectic for both mommy and son since he was streamed to smart class this year, he comes back with piles of homework to finish almost every evening and recently his daily exercise routine has to make way for his homework and revision.

Coming back to the physical punishment for careless mistakes made, I really do not have the heart to execute it on him.  You know what I told my boy instead, It's okay to be at the bottom 10 in your class as long as you know you did your best.  Am I too lenient to the boy?  Some told me I shouldn't be too "lenient" and that physical punishment should be used to push their potential to the limits.  No? *confused*