昨天教儿子“弟子规”的老师好用心啊。她要把一张光碟送给小朋友们， 每一位小朋友都能够得到一张。唯一的要求就是要小朋友在领光碟前，对着大家说声感谢父母的话。
我觉得出发点是很好的。老师常常对他们说要对父母敬孝，但从未从小朋友口中说出来。
原本是让小朋友们自愿上前的， 但是有对兄妹要先走。所以，老师让他们先说。岂料，兄妹俩站在那里老半天，都还没说出感激的话。是他们不会表达吗？不见得吧。他们看起来都上小学了吧。是他们太害羞了吗？那位哥哥平时上课总不合作，义工阿姨们常费心的教他，他都不会不好意思。怎会害羞呢。老师又是鼓励，又是给 leading questions 。许久，才说了声谢谢。
老师后来说了一句话， 我觉得非常有道理。她说“对父母说感谢的话没什么不好意思的。反而是件好事。我们天天长大，父母天天老了。有一天，父母走了，我们会哭的。我们落的泪要是感激的泪而不要是后悔的泪。现在父母还在，要赶快对他们说谢谢。”
后来，老师又叫了一些有兄弟姐妹在的同学一同出来说。我想是要他们壮壮胆吧。可惜，还是你推我，我推你的。不然就是在那儿笑，不愿意说。老师只好 lower her standards, 让他们走到父母前对父母说。幸好，有一位孩子很勇敢地在大家面前说他有多么谢谢他的父母亲。谢谢他们幸苦的把他养大。听了，好感动。总算有人能好好的谢谢他的父母。
我一面看着前面一些孩子还是不怎愿意好好的向他们的父母道谢， 一面不由自主的想到自己的儿子。儿子还未被叫上去。如果被叫到了，会不会像其大多数的孩子般扭捏？
差不多有一半的孩子都被叫到时，我看见家亨的手举了起来。但是，老师没看到， 叫了另外一位同学出去。这位同学回去了，家亨的手又举了。老师又是没留意到。第三次，家亨不等了，干脆自己走去前面。
当我看见儿子站在大家面前，有一股冲动想立刻站起来好让儿子能看到自己。还好，家亨已经看到了我。家亨说 “谢谢爸爸妈妈。我要孝顺你们。” 可想而知，那时的我有多感动。加上，坐我旁边的一位妈妈说 “你儿子啊？哇 steady man” 这份感动还多加了一丝自豪。
只可惜 Kai Hock人在 KL ,不然我想他一定会以我们的儿子为豪的。不是吗，老公?
借用老师的一句话 “敬孝要逞早”，你也对自己的父母说声谢谢了吗？我说了。
-------------posted by Mommy
Monday, December 31, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
AfterMath of the Bad Fall
I wrote about the bad fall Jiaheng had more than a month ago. Till this date, we are still fixing the impact that the fall had on him. :(
About one week after that fall, which left a big bump on the back of his head, Jiaheng started a real bad cough. He was coughing every minute. At the same time, he was having watery eyes and the running nose. He looked real pathetic.
Kai Hock and I were debating if we should bring him to a western doc, who can give him immediate relief at the expense of drugs... a chinese physician, who uses herbs but takes a longer time to see results... or a natural therapist, who uses only herbs and supplementation but could see faster results than the chinese physician. Eventually, we decided on the natural therapist. Thinking back, we were really happy we made the right move.
We didn't know it was so serious! We just described the symptoms Jiaheng had the previous day and the natural therapist asked if he had a fall recently. He then felt the back of his neck and told us that the fall had cause his structure to shift. The shift had caused some blockage and thus he is having such bad cough, watery eyes and running nose.
Frankly speaking, I was quite amazed by the therapist. He could actually came up with such a diagnosis by just looking at Jiaheng's symptoms which looked so much like flu. Jiaheng had a cranial adjustment and the next day, he was like 90% recovered. :)
However, we still need to go back a few times to make sure the structure does not shift.
It is such great responsibility as parents. Guess this responsibility will only increase as our children grow older.
-------- posted by Mommy
About one week after that fall, which left a big bump on the back of his head, Jiaheng started a real bad cough. He was coughing every minute. At the same time, he was having watery eyes and the running nose. He looked real pathetic.
Kai Hock and I were debating if we should bring him to a western doc, who can give him immediate relief at the expense of drugs... a chinese physician, who uses herbs but takes a longer time to see results... or a natural therapist, who uses only herbs and supplementation but could see faster results than the chinese physician. Eventually, we decided on the natural therapist. Thinking back, we were really happy we made the right move.
We didn't know it was so serious! We just described the symptoms Jiaheng had the previous day and the natural therapist asked if he had a fall recently. He then felt the back of his neck and told us that the fall had cause his structure to shift. The shift had caused some blockage and thus he is having such bad cough, watery eyes and running nose.
Frankly speaking, I was quite amazed by the therapist. He could actually came up with such a diagnosis by just looking at Jiaheng's symptoms which looked so much like flu. Jiaheng had a cranial adjustment and the next day, he was like 90% recovered. :)
However, we still need to go back a few times to make sure the structure does not shift.
It is such great responsibility as parents. Guess this responsibility will only increase as our children grow older.
-------- posted by Mommy
Sunday, December 23, 2007
戏剧，情牵25年
昨天，看了新传媒制作的“戏剧，情牵25年”。真的带回了好多美好的回忆。
那一幅幅戏里的画面。。。一首首动人的片曲。。。一张张熟悉的脸孔。这一切的一切仿佛带着我回到年少的时候。
“红头巾”，“牛车水人家”， “边缘少年” - 这些是中学时候与同学们的热门话题。我们更喜欢剧中的歌曲。喜欢听，喜欢唱，还喜欢它们的歌词。事隔那么多年，我竟然还记得“红头巾”的歌词！可想而知， 那年少的印象有多深。
还记得中学时，是新遥的高峰期。回想起和几位好友一同参加了一次歌唱比赛。那时，我们的音乐老师，Mrs Teo 还帮我们编曲，练习，还真谢谢她。虽然我们落败了，但那次的经验让我们的校园生涯增添了不少色彩。
想知道我们的参赛歌曲是哪一首吗？是“我的倒影”！如果你也是新遥迷， 你一定有印象吧。好想知道那时参赛的几位好久不见的朋友现在过的好吗？戏剧真能情牵。。。
------- posted by Mommy
那一幅幅戏里的画面。。。一首首动人的片曲。。。一张张熟悉的脸孔。这一切的一切仿佛带着我回到年少的时候。
“红头巾”，“牛车水人家”， “边缘少年” - 这些是中学时候与同学们的热门话题。我们更喜欢剧中的歌曲。喜欢听，喜欢唱，还喜欢它们的歌词。事隔那么多年，我竟然还记得“红头巾”的歌词！可想而知， 那年少的印象有多深。
还记得中学时，是新遥的高峰期。回想起和几位好友一同参加了一次歌唱比赛。那时，我们的音乐老师，Mrs Teo 还帮我们编曲，练习，还真谢谢她。虽然我们落败了，但那次的经验让我们的校园生涯增添了不少色彩。
想知道我们的参赛歌曲是哪一首吗？是“我的倒影”！如果你也是新遥迷， 你一定有印象吧。好想知道那时参赛的几位好久不见的朋友现在过的好吗？戏剧真能情牵。。。
------- posted by Mommy
Interesting lesson on parenting for me
Jiaheng and I went to 弟子规 today. Just my boy and me. Cos Yixuan is down with false measles and Mommy is staying home with her.
Just as we arrived at Fortune Center, Jiaheng asked if he could take over the long umbrella that I was holding. I replied, "You can have the umbrella if you can handle it properly". Jiaheng promptly and readily said "OK!"
Hearing Jiaheng agreeing so readily, I was about to hand it to him. Then, I recalled a strategy mentioned in a parenting book. And so I added, "If you cannot handle the umbrella properly, I will have to take it back".
When Jiaheng heard that his privilege will be taken away if the umbrella was mishandled. He quickly asked "Pa what is handle properly?" Hmmm.. so he does not understand what I meant by handling the umbrella properly afterall.
Thinking deeper, he is just a 4-year old who is so ready to agree to what you say just so he can get the umbrella. Then hearing that there is a condition tagged to keeping the umbrella with him, he quickly asked "What is handle properly???"
I then told him that it means not to drag the umbrella along while walking, not to poke the umbrella into the ground like a walking stick, just to hold it properly so that it will not be a hazard to the people around him.
Orh... he said. Guess what he did? Jiaheng decided to just hold the long umbrella vertically up in the air. He looked so cute! A short while later, he said "Pa, my arms are very tired." Ha ha ha. Really 啼笑皆非 man!
Once home, I shared this incident with Mommy and we had a good laugh over it. I learnt something from this incident... i.e. never assume the child understands everything just because he says "OK" to your request. And always make an effort to explain words that you suspect may be out of the child's vocab.
I always tell Tse Wern that learning how to be a good parent is even more challenging than doing my Masters Degree. We are learning everyday.
Just as we arrived at Fortune Center, Jiaheng asked if he could take over the long umbrella that I was holding. I replied, "You can have the umbrella if you can handle it properly". Jiaheng promptly and readily said "OK!"
Hearing Jiaheng agreeing so readily, I was about to hand it to him. Then, I recalled a strategy mentioned in a parenting book. And so I added, "If you cannot handle the umbrella properly, I will have to take it back".
When Jiaheng heard that his privilege will be taken away if the umbrella was mishandled. He quickly asked "Pa what is handle properly?" Hmmm.. so he does not understand what I meant by handling the umbrella properly afterall.
Thinking deeper, he is just a 4-year old who is so ready to agree to what you say just so he can get the umbrella. Then hearing that there is a condition tagged to keeping the umbrella with him, he quickly asked "What is handle properly???"
I then told him that it means not to drag the umbrella along while walking, not to poke the umbrella into the ground like a walking stick, just to hold it properly so that it will not be a hazard to the people around him.
Orh... he said. Guess what he did? Jiaheng decided to just hold the long umbrella vertically up in the air. He looked so cute! A short while later, he said "Pa, my arms are very tired." Ha ha ha. Really 啼笑皆非 man!
Once home, I shared this incident with Mommy and we had a good laugh over it. I learnt something from this incident... i.e. never assume the child understands everything just because he says "OK" to your request. And always make an effort to explain words that you suspect may be out of the child's vocab.
I always tell Tse Wern that learning how to be a good parent is even more challenging than doing my Masters Degree. We are learning everyday.
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
My mailbox can produce money besides bills
Every time my wife opens the mailbox to collect our mails, she likes to briefly go through the stack to scan for important mails before bringing them home.
I remember my wife commenting "credit card bills, utilities bills, phone bills, why only bills har?"
Now, it is a different story. Our mailbox can also produce money. We receive our weekly earning statements from our home-based business in our mailbox too. :) So no more "why only bills har?" *wink wink*
I remember my wife commenting "credit card bills, utilities bills, phone bills, why only bills har?"
Now, it is a different story. Our mailbox can also produce money. We receive our weekly earning statements from our home-based business in our mailbox too. :) So no more "why only bills har?" *wink wink*
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Recounts of our Macau Trip
I was very concerned about how our princess will take to the air flight.
Many people have been giving us kind advices on how to help Yixuan relieve the pressure of the plane taking off and landing. But all these advices are getting into me making me worried. How will Yixuan take to the flight? Will she cry? Will she feel discomfort?
So once the plane started to taxi on the runway, I immediately pushed Yixuan to suckle. But that was the last thing on her mind then. All she wanted to do was to look out of the window to see the other planes that are parked at the airport. She retaliated and pushed away, I insisted and pushed her to suckle... repeatedly saying "Come on Yixuan, suckle, suckle ok?"
Then Kai Hock came to her rescue asking me to calm down and relax. She will be fine. :) Only then did I stop insisting and let her enjoy the take off. Hey, actually it is much easier than I expected. Once the plane took off and the novelty has worn off, Yixuan said "Nan nan" (meaning milk). :)
The weather at Macau is fine. Back in Singapore, it had been raining continuously for the past few days. We seem to be walking around under air-con condition everywhere we go. How nice.
After all the research and planning (with help from Jiaheng), we are raring to go. There are so many places to cover...
I especially like the historical sites at St. Paul's Ruins, the food streets along San Ma Lou, the cable car ride to the Guila Lighthouse and the black sand at Hac Sa Beach. Seeing Jiaheng, I think he enjoyed everything there. He was always running ahead of us, checking things out, then running back to hurry us to catch up on him.
One advantage of travelling free and easy was that we just took our time to explore. We could take short breaks every now and then so that parents are not too tired from all the walking. We could change the itinerary as the situation demands.
There were a couple of silly incidents that happened... the icing on the cake. Perfect! ;> One night, we planned to go to a Portuguese restaurant at the Military Club. The building is a classic and the restaurant turns out to be quite a posh one. When we look at the menu, the siren went off, cos they are in Portuguese and English and we do not know what to order.
Recalling what I saw from the internet forum, they mentioned about the set dinner so I "cleverly" suggested that we take 4 sets. Kai Hock did suggest trying a variety but I was so confident that I said "No need, let's go for 4 set dinners."
The appetisers was supposed to be clams. Sad to say, it was too fishy for our taste. When the main course was presented, we saw a fat, long string of dark-coloured lump on the plate. No one said anything until we were half-way through the meal when my dad could not hold on anymore and said it looked like S*IT and my mum burst out laughing. Frankly speaking, it does have an uncanny resemblance. (pardon me). Luckily the dessert saved the day.
There are still some good dishes in the trip, like the roasted pigeon (suppose to be a 100 years old recipe), the stew beef (at Hac Sa Beach), the legendary roasted goose (those that are mentioned in the Hong Kong drama series).
All in all, this is a good trip and we are happy to be back home too. HOME SWEET HOME.
P.S. I still have lots of clothes waiting to be washed and dried. Oh oh... rain rain go away, come again another day... please!
---------- posted by Mommy
Many people have been giving us kind advices on how to help Yixuan relieve the pressure of the plane taking off and landing. But all these advices are getting into me making me worried. How will Yixuan take to the flight? Will she cry? Will she feel discomfort?
So once the plane started to taxi on the runway, I immediately pushed Yixuan to suckle. But that was the last thing on her mind then. All she wanted to do was to look out of the window to see the other planes that are parked at the airport. She retaliated and pushed away, I insisted and pushed her to suckle... repeatedly saying "Come on Yixuan, suckle, suckle ok?"
Then Kai Hock came to her rescue asking me to calm down and relax. She will be fine. :) Only then did I stop insisting and let her enjoy the take off. Hey, actually it is much easier than I expected. Once the plane took off and the novelty has worn off, Yixuan said "Nan nan" (meaning milk). :)
The weather at Macau is fine. Back in Singapore, it had been raining continuously for the past few days. We seem to be walking around under air-con condition everywhere we go. How nice.
After all the research and planning (with help from Jiaheng), we are raring to go. There are so many places to cover...
I especially like the historical sites at St. Paul's Ruins, the food streets along San Ma Lou, the cable car ride to the Guila Lighthouse and the black sand at Hac Sa Beach. Seeing Jiaheng, I think he enjoyed everything there. He was always running ahead of us, checking things out, then running back to hurry us to catch up on him.
One advantage of travelling free and easy was that we just took our time to explore. We could take short breaks every now and then so that parents are not too tired from all the walking. We could change the itinerary as the situation demands.
There were a couple of silly incidents that happened... the icing on the cake. Perfect! ;> One night, we planned to go to a Portuguese restaurant at the Military Club. The building is a classic and the restaurant turns out to be quite a posh one. When we look at the menu, the siren went off, cos they are in Portuguese and English and we do not know what to order.
Recalling what I saw from the internet forum, they mentioned about the set dinner so I "cleverly" suggested that we take 4 sets. Kai Hock did suggest trying a variety but I was so confident that I said "No need, let's go for 4 set dinners."
The appetisers was supposed to be clams. Sad to say, it was too fishy for our taste. When the main course was presented, we saw a fat, long string of dark-coloured lump on the plate. No one said anything until we were half-way through the meal when my dad could not hold on anymore and said it looked like S*IT and my mum burst out laughing. Frankly speaking, it does have an uncanny resemblance. (pardon me). Luckily the dessert saved the day.
There are still some good dishes in the trip, like the roasted pigeon (suppose to be a 100 years old recipe), the stew beef (at Hac Sa Beach), the legendary roasted goose (those that are mentioned in the Hong Kong drama series).
All in all, this is a good trip and we are happy to be back home too. HOME SWEET HOME.
P.S. I still have lots of clothes waiting to be washed and dried. Oh oh... rain rain go away, come again another day... please!
---------- posted by Mommy
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Lunch with My Father
I come from a family of 4 siblings. I have 3 elder sisters and I am the youngest. My father was the sole breadwinner of the family when we were young. My mum is a traditional woman who works hard looking after us.
Since young, I seldom have much recollection about my father as we rarely spend time together. He was often working long hours as times were hard raising 4 young children. One of the most vivid thing I remember about my childhood was that my father will buy back supper and he will wake us up to eat.
Sad to say, I do not have much knowledge about my father. I do not know much about his childhood or about his growing-up years. We hardly have a chance to talk about all these things as survival and bringing home the bread was more important.
Recently I have an idea. Why not have a lunch date with my father? Just the two of us. And he can tell me more about his past so that I can get to know the man who took pains to bring me up.
So it's set. It is arranged that we go for my father's favourite beef kway teow at Geylang Lor 9.
My father is not the chatty type who opens easily to people. Although we did not talk alot, I still managed to gather a fair bit of information about him and his past.
I tell myself.... we must have more of such dates in future. I definitely do not wish to leave in regret that I do not get to know my father better when I have the chance.
Since young, I seldom have much recollection about my father as we rarely spend time together. He was often working long hours as times were hard raising 4 young children. One of the most vivid thing I remember about my childhood was that my father will buy back supper and he will wake us up to eat.
Sad to say, I do not have much knowledge about my father. I do not know much about his childhood or about his growing-up years. We hardly have a chance to talk about all these things as survival and bringing home the bread was more important.
Recently I have an idea. Why not have a lunch date with my father? Just the two of us. And he can tell me more about his past so that I can get to know the man who took pains to bring me up.
So it's set. It is arranged that we go for my father's favourite beef kway teow at Geylang Lor 9.
My father is not the chatty type who opens easily to people. Although we did not talk alot, I still managed to gather a fair bit of information about him and his past.
I tell myself.... we must have more of such dates in future. I definitely do not wish to leave in regret that I do not get to know my father better when I have the chance.
Sunday, December 09, 2007
Domestic Scientist
My ex-colleague just gave birth to a baby girl and invited Kai Hock, Jiaheng, Yixuan and me to the first-month celebration.
I was happy to meet up with a few ex-colleagues. I was hoping to see more but unfortunately, quite a few could not turn up. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time chatting with the few who were present.
Then Ms Chew mentioned about another gathering that I missed. Jeffrey asked what was I doing? I was expecting the answer to be either a home-maker or Stay At Home Mum. But Ms Chew said that they replied I was a Domestic Scientist. Hey! so innovative.
So what do I experiment on? My kids??!!?? Ha ha
Domestic Scientist... cool! I like it. :)
---------- posted by Mommy
I was happy to meet up with a few ex-colleagues. I was hoping to see more but unfortunately, quite a few could not turn up. Nevertheless, I had a wonderful time chatting with the few who were present.
Then Ms Chew mentioned about another gathering that I missed. Jeffrey asked what was I doing? I was expecting the answer to be either a home-maker or Stay At Home Mum. But Ms Chew said that they replied I was a Domestic Scientist. Hey! so innovative.
So what do I experiment on? My kids??!!?? Ha ha
Domestic Scientist... cool! I like it. :)
---------- posted by Mommy
Thursday, December 06, 2007
Our Macau Trip
A few days ago, one of my friends text chat me and asked why Kai Hock and I have not been updating our blog these few weeks.
Then I realised that it has been really quite some time since we wrote in our blog. And the "force" behind that? None other than our dear Jiaheng and our upcoming Macau trip.
You see... Jiaheng is now on school holidays. So, I have to find all sorts of things to entertain him and he can't do without Mommy when he is practicing his abacus. The whole day is just dedicated to the 2 kids. By the time, they are asleep, I got to quickly catch up with some work. And then, it's time for bed.
These few days, I have been burning some midnight oil to plan for our upcoming trip to Macau. We will be there for 5 days n 4 nights. Really look forward to our Macau trip with my parents, Kai Hock, Jiaheng and Yixuan.
Kai Hock made an interesting comment... He said, "Some people actually spent more time planning for an overseas trip than planning for their life!"
Sad to say, that is kindof true... When you ask someone what his dream is and what is his plan to achieve it? Perhaps, not everyone can give you a clear answer.
I am glad we know what we want in life and we are working together to achieve that goal. ;)
-------- posted by Mommy
Then I realised that it has been really quite some time since we wrote in our blog. And the "force" behind that? None other than our dear Jiaheng and our upcoming Macau trip.
You see... Jiaheng is now on school holidays. So, I have to find all sorts of things to entertain him and he can't do without Mommy when he is practicing his abacus. The whole day is just dedicated to the 2 kids. By the time, they are asleep, I got to quickly catch up with some work. And then, it's time for bed.
These few days, I have been burning some midnight oil to plan for our upcoming trip to Macau. We will be there for 5 days n 4 nights. Really look forward to our Macau trip with my parents, Kai Hock, Jiaheng and Yixuan.
Kai Hock made an interesting comment... He said, "Some people actually spent more time planning for an overseas trip than planning for their life!"
Sad to say, that is kindof true... When you ask someone what his dream is and what is his plan to achieve it? Perhaps, not everyone can give you a clear answer.
I am glad we know what we want in life and we are working together to achieve that goal. ;)
-------- posted by Mommy
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