Sad, Sum Toong, Shing Toong, Sakit hati……

Kena ripped off!!!! We were back in KL last weekend. It was a short stay and I didn’t manage to buy a lot of stuff. Nonetheless, I made a point to check out the bookstore as I was hoping to get some new books for Ryan. I found some interesting Barney books. Fliped through the pages of the display copy and decided to buy them. So I picked those nicely wrapped in plastic of course. Kiasu ma. Not suspecting anything amiss, I went straight to the counter and paid for the books and hurriedly proceeded to the next destination (shopping shopping… )

Aaahh.. when we got back to our home in Singapore, I gawked in shock when I was greeted by these ‘horror’ sights…

The title of the book should say ‘I DID NOT See Barney’ to reflect the actual condition / story of the book!!!

Moral of the story: Alwaysssssssssss check the goods before payment. The display copy is definitely in better condition than the one I bought. Luckily the rest of the Barney, Elmo books I bought were okay.. not in perfect condition but at least the hands, body and head are all intact. Maybe I should write a complaint email to bookstore in hope they will do an exchange for me in Singapore. You think that will work? Heehee…

Ps: Oh, if you’re curious to know which bookstore is soooooooooooooooo &%%#%(* , it’s the one at Mid Valley. Don’t want to mention name la…. u know I know.

Shichida’s School of Thoughts

Would like to share some of the info I gathered from the parent-teacher discussions had at Ryan’s Shichida class this morning. You may already know all these but if you don’t, may worth some thoughts:

- Mozart music is the best music for your child amongst all the other classical music. Mozart has the frequency that is able to activate one’s brain thus stimulating a better learning process. So instead of playing the music alone, you may complement mozart music in the background when initiating flash cards, or any role play activities with your kids. (I think most parents would have already know this). However for more relaxing activities such as reading time, Mozart music is not recommended. I could not remember the name of the music but is is definitely one of a softer and more calming tune.
- TV is a big NO-NO for children under 3 because that apparently slows down the speech development. They say, children who are esposed to TV at a young age may know a lot of things but they are poor in expressing themselves because no.1 TV is a one way interaction and its output frequency range is far greater than human voice. So if a child is esposed to that high range of frequency most of the time, inevitably they get immuned to the frequency thus a signal will be sent to their brain telling them to tune it at that level. And that probably explains why when you try to distract a child who is concentrating on the TV programme, s/he tends to ignore you. Chances are they are not ignoring you, they seriously could not hear us!
- Try to avoid feeding your anything sweet (incl fruits) if you do not want a fidgety and restless child esp when s/he is due for a class later (like my case!)
- Always talk to you child, regardless they are listening or not.
- Generally morning is the best learning time for children as they tend to absorb better after about 10-12 hours’ sleep.

That’s about all for now. Will share more when I learn more…

Alphabets Book

@ 17 months 4 weeks 1 day

This is Ryan’s first homework from the Shichida class he attended on Week 1. Like most parents, I’ve bought all the aplhabets books for Ryan all these while. So when we (the parents) were asked to do this as homework, we went like ‘HAR????’.

See below my attempt at doing-it-myself version. If you ask me if there is a difference of effectiveness between the two (off the shelf vs. DIY), I would say the DIY version is probably more effective. The other parents shared the same views. As you can see DIY version is custom made. Though not necessary, I made an effort to try to incorporate as many objects Ryan sees in his surrounding into the sheet; so he is more familiar and it’s easier for him to remember the object’s name. You could try by printing the alphabets on a A4 paper. You could add as many pages to one alphabet (eg A or B or C…. so on). Try it out. See if it works for your child.

Would you allow your maid to nap/sleep?

Yesterday after my usual afternoon nap (yea.. i normally nap cos I slept very late and woke up early to attend to Ryan) I looked out the window and saw the tennis court wet. So I asked my new maid Loida if it was raining just now. I seriously have no idea. I didn’t hear a thing. Her answer.. “No ma’am. No rain today, the day before it rained”. I was a little puzzled. Cannot be what…. but nevermind. I’ll verify later, I thought.

Later I asked my ’spy’ (Linda – my existing maid from Malaysia).

Me: Linda, tadi ada hujan?
Linda: Ada kak. Sekejap aje
Me: Tapi Loida kata tak ada?
Linda: (Silent)
Me: Dia tidur ar?
Linda: Yea.. saya duduk di luar, dia kat bilik.
Me: Berapa lama dia tidur sampai tak tahu hujan?
Linda: 3 jam rasa

Analyse a bit… I had my lunch at 1.30pm and she was still awake. After lunch I took my nap and woke up at 4pm. So I guess she did not sleep for 3 hours la.. but i guess for around 2 hours. &^&^$^% My new maid sure has good life hor…

Later….

Me: Loida, just now it rained in the afternoon. You didn’t know?
Loida: (Silent)
Me: Maybe because you were sleeping, that’s why you didn’t hear. I was not aware either necause I was sleeping too (I pretend to look at the TV and was testing if she would respond to my statement),
Loida: (Paused for a while) Ma’am, I asked Linda if I could sleep if no work, she said can.
Me: (OK la.. at least she’s telling the truth and considering she wakes up 5.30am everyday and our unit is really not that big so less work. However, for her to nap/sleep for 2 hours plus I felt is a bit too luxurious for a live in maid. Am I too bossy? Hmm… ). Loida, you can nap provided you have done all your work. I don’t expect you to work around the clock. But since Linda is leaving soon, you should take the opportunity to ask her questions.
Loida: Yes, ma’am

End of story. Will continue to monitor her. So far, she’s okay la. Still need me to call her name a few times before she answer me (arrghhh.. I hate to scream) but apart from that, okay la. 6/10 points. Finger crossed she’ll be okay and knows her work well after Linda leaves on Monday.

Expensive Toy

I saw this at Kiddy’s Palace and decided to buy it for Ryan. It’s quite cool. See what I mean?? Cool heh…

Ryan loves it as he enjoyed the fun from pulling out all the velcro-ed pictures and throw them in the air! *slap head* But that enjoyment and fun came with a price tag that I never would have expected.

Yes. A whopping SGD34 (RM78!) I actually saw a similar one hanging by the side selling at SGD4.90 but I saw this and liked this instead. I don’t know what got me (kwai ngum ngan), I didn’t check how much and was assuming they are the same or about the same price la. It was only when I was at the checkout I got the shock of the total bill amount. Aaah… too late to return. Paiseh. Moreover got other customers behind me. But are they normally that expensive? I think it’s a con shopping strategy la… putting them side by side and lure blur shoppers like me.

The Extra Bonding Time

@ 17 months 3 weeks 1 day

Daddy has been extremely tied up with work eversince we came to Singapore. Everyday ryan only gets to see his Daddy for that mere 30 mins – 45 mins for that extra little bonding. By the time Daddy comes home (usually at 12mn), Ryan would be long in Zzzz-land.

Today I decided to send Daddy to work. It wasn’t too tricky as I initially thought due to the unfamiliar roads. I survived the journey and I’m happy cos Ryan gets to bond with his Daddy a little bit more than usual. I’m sure they both are pleased too…..

Bonding Time in the morning (hahaha… the car seat is finally back in the car..)

New Maid

My new maid has arrived. She’s currently under training by Linda. For a start she look pleasant.. has a bit of that pa pai (snobbish) look tho. Like any new employer, I do have some complaints of her. It’s not that I am fussy but I do want my maid to have some respects of her employer. First of all, she really needs to buck up on her manners. Have you ever seen a maid who walks in front of her employer, swiniging the shopping bag and walk as if she knows the place dem well? Mind you, it was out first outing and she had never been in Singapore before. Luckily I have a sengmok Linda around who called her out and asked her to walk behind me. I was fuming mad la… In the car, I voiced out. I told her to walk next or behind me next time as I do not want to embarass myself screaming out for her in shopping centre just because she pandai pandai go the opposite direction. Second thing hubs noticed is, arrgghh.. she bit her own nails. I have not noticed that but hubs said he saw and caught her red handed. I hope it is a one time incident. Then this morning I decided to have a talk with her since since today is her 3rd day and she should have gotten a good grasp of how we want her to behave, work etc etc. Moreover she has a buddy to work with all time round. She nodded to every single thing I said.. cleanliness, discipline etc…. I hope she nodded from the bottom of her heart. I’m really not in a state to handle more miseries at this stage.

Toilet Sanitiser

This is NOT sponsored post

I was browsing through the mag and I saw this item. The subject ‘Loo Relief’ caught my attention. Read further it’s actually about Luvtheyself Toilet Seat Sanitizer that promises to rid 99.99% of germs found on toilet seat. I think it’s really cool. It comes in small bottle (20ml) so it fits well into our handbag. The sanitiser can also double up as freshener and sanitiser for bins, computer keyboards etc. Check it out. It’s selling at SGD14.90 (comes with 1 x 20ml spray bottle, 1 x 65ml refill bottle and 1 x organza bag). Not sure if it’s available in KL. It should. Check out the phamarcies or Sasa. Should be cheaper in KL due to currency conversion……….

Got Our Wheels

Yippeee… I received a call from the agent couple days back saying our car is ready for collection. Heehee.. finally I can be more mobile and do not have to depend on public transport alone. It is not that I have anything against public transport infact I must say public transport here is highly efficient and reliable. Everytime I call for a cab, it’ll take them max 10 mins to reach my place. So why do I need a car??? Hmmm…hmmm… despite the efficiencies of the cab drivers here, having our own wheels with the ability to go and leave anywhere anytime any weather is still something I missed and craved. Maybe I’m too used to driving around back in KL.

Anyways, got my car this afternoon. So far so good….. hopefully can get used to the roads here and bring my little prince to explore more….

Brainy Baby VCDs

@ 17 months 1 week 2 days

I bought Ryan his first piece of Brainy Baby VCD two months ago. That has since become his all time favourite.

I wanted to get more from the series for Ryan when I went for the Isetan Presale last week (there’s a 20% disc for member!). Unfortunately when I got there, most of the CDs/DVDs were gone. I only saw pieces of Baby Einsteins, Barney, oethers what not. No Brainy Baby.

Anyways, when we were at Taka over the weekend we managed to get these.

Personally I find Brainy Baby series pretty entertaining. Like Baby Einstein they also uses music, animals, nature, babies to engage the baby’s attention but in a more interesting and engaging way. At least when I run the show it’s able to keep Ryan still (for a while). Blehhh……