Appalled by My Son's Slangs

'Mummy, don't want like this nahhh!"

'I'm tired wohhh"

As if it is not soon enough for Ryan to pick up our Malaysian slang. I'm no slob and I am not those people who 'try' to decorate my speech unnaturally with accents. I just want my kids to learn things the right way the first time. I've been trying to avoid slangs when I teach him the right way to talk at this tender age. It would be unavoidable later once he starts to mix in primary school. But until then, I'd like to get him to know the proper way first. Recently, I noticed that Ryan has been punctuating and ending EVERY sentence with slangs..and it is not just the simple 'lah-s' - I get things like.. lots of 'nahhh', lots of 'wohhh', 'whatttt', 'one' and some very creative ones.

It looks like he is having fun trying out this new way of talking.. and in the process he can't seem to shake it off. Appalled, I asked him who taught him to speak like that? Or was it something he picked up when playing with other children. Guess what! He told me that it was his kindergarten class teacher!! Actually, I did notice the teacher's speech earlier but I wasn't paying much attention to it until now. She is the new class teacher replacing the more experienced one that left and she also doubles up as the Chinese teacher for the class. Aside from Chinese lessons, she speaks English to the children in her class ... with very obvious slangs. My son is obviously picking it up :(

Now, I have to tell my son "Speak properly. Say that again please" in hope that he will eventually shake off his favourite slangs that he is having so much fun with. Of course, slangs spice up the sentences, making them sound 'interesting' to a kid. But I just have to do it properly if I want him to learn well and the right way. At the same time, I have to watch my words around him too as I too tend to inject some slangs in my everyday speech.

About the teacher. Short of telling her about it and ask her to 'speak properly' ;p (which I don't think she means to), there is nothing I can do. I just have to work on my son.

I have another reason to do this. Raymund is COPYING just about EVERYTHING his brother says and does. He is already spotting the slangs!!! Sigh!

Checklist: Preparing the Arrival of the New Born Baby

Some people are 'pantang' (superstistious) - they do not want to prepare clothes, accessories and stuff too early in the pregnancy. Some old folks especially. Something along the lines of '..just in case something bad happens if you do that'. From the practical standpoint, the 1st few months are the more vulnerable period. At the same time, preggy moms will go through the Triple Screen Test (between 15th - 20th week) to signal if further testing should be done, such as Amniocentesis (extracting a sample of amniotic fluid from around the baby between 16th-20th week.) to test for genetic disorder or a chromosomal abnormality, such as Down syndrome.

Of course, there is no right or wrong about when to prepare. It is entirely up to you. If you have friends and relatives who can pass baby things to you, all the better. I had no such luck :(

In my case, my preparations did not begin until way after that... until I knew my baby's gender. I am VERY PARTICULAR that baby girls wear pink and boys wear blue. I cannot have baby boys wearing pink or vice versa. When they are little babies, there is no way people will know the gender and most of the time, they tell through the color of their clothings. Of course, I can always opt for neutral colors like white, yellow and green. I like white for babies - so clean and so pure. But I also like to 'color code' my newbies :).

First thing first, I prepared a checklist of things needed for my new baby and for my confinement. There were lots to buy! The checklist proved to be very useful and some of my friends even asked for it.

What was in the check list:

1. things needed to buy or prepare for my new baby, for myself during confinement and for my confinement lady
2. categorized by 'clothing', 'medicine/food', accessories, furnishing, etc - this will later help me determine when and from where to get them
3. determine the quantity required for each item
4. figure out which ones to buy (eg. baby bottles, baby clothes), which ones to borrow (eg. breast pump) and which ones to get your friends to give you. At this point, when your friends or colleagues ask you what you want, be truthful. It is better that they get you a useful item than not. Nothing to be shy about. My colleagues gave me an electric sterilizer and baby car seat for Ryan, and baby monitors for both Raymund and Rachel. I use the items till today.

Then the hunting began. I had big time issue towards the end of my pregnancies. My leg cramp would be so bad that I couldn't walk more than 10 feet without resting. So, I had to do all my shopping and hunting way before like during my 5-6th month. The trick here is to wait for promotions and baby fairs. There is really no point in getting too expensive items such as clothes since the baby out grows it very fast. But for certain items like baby bottles/feed accessories and such, I'd go for the better quality ones for health and safety precaution.

If you are interested, here is the checklist which I used when I was pregnant. I have added in some pointers and suggestions. Also indicated some 'pantang' stuff along with some items. Enjoy :)

http://www.4shared.com/file/120123687/70a2ff1c/Baby_Checklist.html

There is no hard and fast rule around it really. Just customize it to your needs. The idea of the checklist was to keep me organized and so that I did not leave out anything essential. After that, I made a To Do list for different stages towards my delivery date. Share with you later.

Rotating Header and Background Image

Procrastinating! I have been dragging feet in getting some new designs up for my header and background image. I love the designing part. It is just that time just flies when I spend quality time with my children, playing and teaching them. Then there is my eldest son (my husband!) who needs attention too :).

What I really want to do is to create a rotating header for my blog. To make things a bit more interesting ... or maybe confusing ;p.. I'm also thinking of a rotating background image too. By rotating, you are not seeing a physically 'rotating' header/background image.. Urgh! It is just that every time you refresh the page or click on a link, my header will randomly pick and show a different header from a list of headers that I have selected. The same goes for the background image. I'll set it up later and see if it works... after I design a few more headers and backgrounds...

If you are interested to know, check out this site:

http://tips-for-new-bloggers.blogspot.com/search?q=rotating+header&x=0&y=0

Tsunami Alert on 22nd July! Truth or Hoax?

I just received a chain mail warning about big Tsunami that is going to Malaysia and many countries next week on 22nd July. The content as follows:

“Hello there. I just wanted 2 let you know that please stay away from the beaches all around in the month of July. There is a prediction that there will be another tsunami hitting on July 22nd. It is also when there will be sun eclipse. Predicted that it is going 2 be really bad and countries like Malaysia (Sabah & Sarawak), Singapore, Maldives, Australia, Mauritius, Si Lanka, India, Indonesia, Philippines are going 2 be badly hit. Please try and stay away from the beaches in July. Better 2 be safe than sorry. Please pass the word around. Please also pray for all beings.”

After that I googled to find out more and to check if there is any truth to the content. Imagine my surprise when I found out that this has been going on for quite a while and there had been many talks about it since. While it is true that we are expecting the eclipse of the sun but the rest of it .. is it true or is someone just having a sick and nasty joke causing unnecessary public panic???! If it is true and it is is really bad, why then are the authorities of all these countries not going on red alert?! In this case, I place my trust on my authorities.

Check this out too - is this the source? It has an attachment detailing the so-called theories around the prediction. And from 'indiastudychannel'??? Really beats me!!

http://www.indiastudychannel.com/resources/75995-Quake-And-Tsunami-predicted-nd-july.aspx

I'm still googling up trying to find valid authorities commenting about this rumour. Can't find though except from one little article from http://sarawakupdate.com.my/blog/news/july-22-solar-eclipse-cum-tsunami-is-a-hoax-fadillah/ - check it out.

Frankly, rather than causing undue public panics to some even though some others just mocked at the rumour, I hope that some credible experts would step forward to clear the air. And if it is indeed a sick joke, I for one am really pissed at the culprit.

Check Out This One-Word Tag

I found this one-word questions from Cookie's Corner blog (http://cookieorteza.blogspot.com/and thanks, Cookie! ). I'm so excited to try this out. Here goes...

1. Where is your cell phone? charge

2. Your hair? black

3. Your mother? dear

4. Your father? passed

5. Your favorite food? italian

6. Your dream last night? dunno

7. Your favorite drink? tomato

8. Your dream/goal? happy

9. What room you are in? master

10. Your hobby? gardening

11. Your fear? health

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years? home

13. Where were you last night? home

14. Something that you aren’t? man

15. Muffins? choc

16. Wish list item?diamond

17. Where you grew up?kl

18. Last thing you did? blog

19. What are you wearing? pajamas

20. Your TV? plasma

21. Your pets? none

22. Friends? close

23. Your life? family

24. Your mood? great

25. Missing someone? dad

26. Car? 2

27. Something you’re not wearing? shoes

28. Your favorite store? isetan

29. Your favorite color? red

30. When is the last time you laughed? just

31. Last time you cried?movie

32. Who will resend this? dunno

33. One place that I go to over and over? mum's

34. One person who emails me regularly? facebook

35. My favorite place to eat? dragon-i

Rule: Answer the questions, USING ONLY ONE WORD! It’s not as easy as you might think! Copy and change the answers to suit you.

Homemade Mini Flashcards for Phonics & Word Recognition

Lately, I have tried out another method to help Ryan with phonics and word recognition. I have decided not to teach him solely on phonics. To speed things up, I have decided to get Ryan to recognize simple and frequently used words. Adding phonics into the mix to help him remember and recognize the words did help. At this stage, he has yet to learn the full fledge phonics like the sh, oo, ou and different sounds for the same letter. I have decided not to wait for the school to teach. So, I have blended in word recognition. Why did I do this? I believe that both phonics and word recognition are beneficial to the child but not in silos. Some easy words, will have to be recognized easily and with the help of phonics to pronounce and 'remember' the words. Some enrichment classes like Vital Years use word recognition to help children with their reading skills. Kindies like my son's emphasize on phonics. No right or wrong I think but I feel that my sons should get the benefits of both methods.

Initially I started off pasting flashcards on my cupboard. (See: http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/05/pasting-flashcards-on-my-cupboard.html) The freshness and the fun to it was dying down. So, I had to think of something new to engage my son especially at this age. I cut up some small squares from hard papers and wrote easy common words. I would flash the cards out one by one to get him to read and spell out the words to me. If he gets stuck, I'd ask him to try using phonics to remember. Along the way, I would put several cards together to form sentences and get him to read out the sentences to me. Another way to repetitive learning. The last game is to have all cards laid out on the table and Ryan gets to collect the cards by taking the cards that he knows how to read. The goal is to collect all and he gets a reward (stickers :))

After a few nights, I noticed that my son improved a lot and gained new confidence. I'm advancing to the next step by giving him more words and reading storybooks with him. He recognizes some words that he learnt from the flashcards and he is very proud of his ability to read them. Ryan is a child that needs a lot of praises and encouragement. Not sure if it is true for most kids. But encouragement and praises give him more confidence and enthusiasm to learn more. I feel bad for pushing him and I'm trying not to get too hard. But Ryan has a late start and in another year, he will be in a chinese primary school. I get so worried for him that if he can't follow, he would become depress and lose his self confidence, just like when he first started kindy (see: http://joanne-momsays.blogspot.com/2009/04/my-son-was-slow-in-speech-development.html). I hope I'm doing the right thing.

Morning Sickness

Another friend of mine just discovered that she is about 2 months along. Unlike her 1st pregnancy, this one is giving her big time morning sickness. Frankly, I do wonder why people call it morning sickness. Like my friend, my nausea was whole day long! More like whole-day-sickness. I wasn't spared for all 3 children. And this condition only mellowed after 4-5 months. I said 'mellowed' not stopped :( At the slightest trigger, I would be asking my husband to stop by the side of the road or just anywhere so that I could purge. This was the worse part of my pregnancies. I'm just so afraid to go thru this again. When I was carrying my 2nd and 3rd kid, I was really wondering how could I forget the experience and still go for another kid. The answer is simple. The end result is worth it! I have 3 wonderful children and I love them with all my heart!! :)

I was told by some that if my mom had morning sickness when she was having us kids, then very probable I too would have morning sickness when I carry. My gynae dismissed as nonsense. Just part of old wives tale. In fact, consider us lucky coz morning sickness is the baby's defense sytem against anything which is not favourable to the baby while in our tummy. It has been proven that those mummies with morning sickness have lower chances of miscarriage in view of this natural defense system. Unfortunately in the process, we suffered like mad!

If you don't have morning sickness, does this mean you wouldn't get it the next round? Or vice versa? Nope! Each pregnancy is different. I have known friends who gave birth to 3 kids without suffering any morning sickness but the 4th pregnancy was hell. So its just luck. But then again, look on the bright side. It's safer for the precious little one in you.

So for those mummies out there, if you happen to experience morning sickness the 1st time round, here are some pointer for you based on my experience. Please do be conscious that everyone is different and if you cannot 'tahan' or it gets too bad, do see your gynae. One of the worries is dehydration.

1. Understand which 'taste' aggravate your morning sickness.
   In my case, I couldn't take anything sweet at all. Even sour food which leaves a sweet after taste was no go for me. I could only go for salty food.
   
   
2. Always carry a tub of crackers with you. Jacob crackers worked best for me.
   Whenever the sickness began, I would be munching 2 crackers to settle my stomach. Works most of the time.
   
   
3. Never let yourself go hungry.
   I couldn't go hungry. The moment I felt my 1st hunger pangs, I HAD TO eat something. Else my stomach juice and gas would aggravate my morning sickness. This is the worse part because there is nothing in my stomach to throw up except my stomach juice. It was really painful. That is why I always have crackers with me wherever I went. In fact, my gynae recommended hard fruits to snack between meals.
   
   
4. On the flip side, I couldn't eat too full. A really full stomach also made me sick and throw up. I had to balance my food intake. Sad, isn't it?
   
   
5. I couldn't travel outstation by car.
   Not all people have this issue. For me, traveling too long in the car increased the gas in my stomach. In all 3 pregnancies and throughout the 9 months, I got very sick after traveling outstation in a car. And it lasted for 24 hours each time.
   
   
6. I kept some plastic bags in the car
   Many times, my husband couldn't stop the car in time for my nausea. So I used to carry some plastic bags in the car and lotsa tissues to prevent making a complete mess.
   
   
7. Avoided medication for nausea and vomitting. If need to, I just rest.
   Some doctors would give their patients medication to ease their nausea and vomitting. GPs are particularly so especially they provide symptomatic treatment in lots of circumstances. Both my gynaes were firmly against giving me any medication for my nausea and vomitting. My gynae explained before but sorry I can't remember the rationale specifically. I'm talking about the regular symptoms. But if your symptoms are so bad, always see a gynae for advice and even medication if needed. Trust your gynae to give you the right treatment.
   
   
8. The worse is not over until the baby developed the face. That was when my nausea and vomitting peaked. My gynae explained that the baby's defense system goes up during this 1-2 weeks and that is about 4-5 months along in pregnancy. I experienced the worse here. After that, I would gradually surfaced and the morning sickness would suddenly went away one day.

In a lot of cases, I know of people who had morning sickness the whole of 9 months!! Some were so bad that they had to stay in bed most of the time. I was praying I wouldn't be one of them. As it is the 5 months was hard on me. Some friends only got it for a short 3 months. Lucky them! In all my pregnancies, even though my worse was over after 4-5 months, I was still very sensitive throughout my pregnancies. The slightest upset or wrong food (I was extremely sensitive to boric acid) would trigger sickness and vomitting.

Oh, by the way, do avoid food with borc acid as it is harmful to the baby. That is why I got sick when I took noodles - especially 'loh shee fun', sometimes 'kuey teow', yellow me and definitely 'lai fun' (the noodles for assam laksa) - and fish balls.

Hope this helps you. But do bear in mind that no one situation is exactly the same. While this acts to comfort your situation, always go to your gynae for advice.

Happy Moments

My happiest moment is when I'm with my family. My weekends are so very precious. It's the time to spend quality time with my husband and kids. Today, my husband and I took our kids to Genting to have some fun. Unfortunately, Genting was very misted and drizzling. So, we ended up in the Indoor Theme Park which was very crowded indeed. My kids are too young or rather still too short to enjoy most of the rides. They are quite disappointed but they still enjoy the cold and the trip to some extent :) At the back of my mind, I was kinda worried about H1N1 in view of the crowd. Once we were back, I made sure that my sons took Vitamin C (here's another topic which I'd like to discuss later - Vitamin C).

Frankly, spending time with my children is my happiest and most contented moments. I know my hubby feels the same way too. It does not necessarily means that we have to go on a trip or somewhere to have fun. The simple act of accompanying my children to our residential playground is enough for us. My sons would be cycling or enjoying the swings and slide with their friends. And I will be there with Rachel having an occasional chat with my neighbours or just simply carrying Rachel, sitting on the swings and enjoying the fresh air. Those are the moments when the working stress would be free from my mind. My husband would occasionally join in, cycling with my sons around the neighbourhood. I live in a very nice neighbourhood, all working class, with a nice racial mix. The best part is that they are all families with young children around my sons' age who also enjoy happy moments with their kids during the evenings. What more can I ask for! I look forward to take them to the playground again tomorrow :)

Wonderful Day Spent with My Kids Today!

I had a nice day with my family today. After a good dim sum lunch with my mum today (its her 70th birthday today and we had a BBQ for her yesterday too), my husband suggested we take our kids and my nephew for some wet water fun! Ryan has been to HK Disneyland but Raymund has yet to know what is a Theme Park and has never been in a pool before. I was kinda worried that he would not take to it. My nephew Enson (same age as Raymund at 2.5 years old) has been to pools but not Theme Parks as well. So it will be a first to both of them. We decided to take them for long overdue trip to the Sunway Theme Park. My poor little princess Rachel couldn't go, of course.

So, right after lunch, we quickly packed and got ready for the Sunway Theme Park. We opted for Water Park and the Amusement Park. Ryan thought it was another Disneyland. They were absolutely thrilled with the water slides and the pool with man made waves. Naturally young kids love slides. Plus WATER! Wow! I can still see Ryan's face :) Raymund and Enson were very cautious and wary with the water and the slides at first. Once they got through with the fear, they too went bonkers!! My hubby and I didn't really swim much. But really enjoy seeing the children so happy. My poor mum didn't want to get wet, prefered to sit and wait for us. But at the last River Ride, she too got wet :) ;P.

Of course, Sunway Theme Park is nowhere near Disneyland but it is still a young kid's dream. The Amusement Park is a bit disappointing. Not enough rides. But all in all, we had a good day and quality time with our children. The children were happy and enjoyed it. That's what counts!

Little Raymund said to me 'Mummy, I go play water tomorrow again, k?'

Not so often, unfortunately. It was not exactly a cheap trip. We will try something different next.

They are happily snoozing now after a long tiring but fun day :)

Toys Worth Buying

Children nowadays are so privileged. I remember when I was a kid, I wouldn't dare ask my parents to buy this toy and that without considering the price and the occasion. My parents were just average income earners and most of the time, were on shoe string budget. Even so, when I shared this with my friends, they said the same too. We were less bold in asking for toys and such - partly because of our more traditional up-bringing versus today's children.

Because I love my kids and I do so love shopping too (oops!), from time to time, I'd reward my children and make them happy. Particularly when they do well in their work or have been good boys. Actually, I don't mind spending on toys which have educational values or those which stimulate their creativity and thinking. One of which is puzzles or blocks.

From 1-2 years old, I introduced Ryan to blocks. Megablocks and wooden blocks. I'd teach him to build houses and bridges and so forth. Then I'd leave him to it to show me what he can do. Now Raymund is catching on and he is especially encouraged when he can make something interesting out of it. You'd be surprised by what children can do base on their imagination.

Now I have progressed Ryan to more complicated puzzles. He got a Lego set (smaller pieces) for his birthday and he is really fascinated with it. I wouldn't let Raymund or Rachel near him when he plays these small pieces. The pieces can be very small and if you have babies and young children, it is dangerous if they put the pieces into their mouth. Lego has different range which is graded by children's age. Go for the bigger pieces if your children are still small. Alternative is Megablock - big and suitable for very young children.

A friend from HK recently gave us an interesting 3D cube puzzle that they can piece together to build anything that they can think of. I find this very good and allows better creativity since it is now 3D/cube instead of just stacking up like blocks and Legos. Ryan is able to build robots, space ships, rockets, etc with it. He loves it! Quite unfortunately, I can't find this product in Malaysia.

To take this further, my sons love to play soldiers, dinosaurs, cars and sea animals pieces. Together with these blocks, they will build a fortress from the blocks and then position soldiers, dinosaurs, robots in combat positions. Sometimes, they would build house and bridges and then play cars on them. All we have to do is give them suggestions every now and then. Don't limit them to logistics and must-dos, should-dos - just give them a free hand and build on their creativity. That's my view :) Sometimes, I find that Ryan and Raymund's creations are much nicer and more interesting than mine.

The next birthday - Raymund's - I know what to get for them. Another puzzle called Zoob. More affordable and you can get it at Isetan. Check out this site about Zoob: http://www.infinitoy.com/zoob/index.shtml

And yes ... I think I'm spoiling my kids too :(

Adding Label Cloud and Recent Comment Widget to my Blog

My Label Cloud had 'disappeared' a while ago. Don't have a clue what I had done with it. Finally got down to checking the html scripts and fixed it. Now my side bar doesn't look too long and cluttered. Also cleaned up some unnecessary items too.

I have been thinking also that it was difficult to track new comments on my posts. I googled up to see if I could find any Recent Comments widget which I know some smart fellas out there would have thought about this one way or other. Found it and done it. Now I don't have to scroll my posts one by one and second guess if the last comment was made by me. Ya, ya... I'm still new at this blogging business. But it is really fun to find out :) If you are interested, check out this blog.

http://beautifulbeta.blogspot.com/2006/11/widget-installation-and-downloads-page.html#dlrecentcomments

I'm still contemplating whether to put in 'Read More' into my blog. Somehow, I still like my long winded style :) :)