Fish Therapy

22 June 2008 marks the 9th year of our wedding. It has been 9 years since my wife and I got married. Looking back, it has been a wonderful journey together, and along the way came Jiaheng and then Yixuan. :)

We are both very grateful for these 2 wonderful kids. It must have been the good fortune left from our ancestors. As I get to know more and read more, I am beginning to believe that you have the power to create your own destiny and to accumulate good fortune to be passed down to your descendants.

I was cracking my brain where to bring Mommy to for our anniversary. Some place where she has never been to, some place where it will be a surprise for her.

Then a great idea dawned on me. Mommy used to be a teacher so she used to stand for long hours. After near a decade of teaching, she started to have cracked heels and dry skin on her feet. It became worse with the 2 pregnancies, with so much weight added to her.

It really pains me to see the deep lines on her heels. We tried a few things like moisturisers, foot scrubs etc. But they didn't really help. Even though, Mommy kept saying never mind. I really hope to find a solution for her. I decided to book an appointment with the Fish Doctors.

It was a cosy place nestled among the many famous eateries at Novena Ville. I actually found this place using the Internet, the reviews seem to be good. The Fish Doctors are supposed to be a totally natural skin treatment experience. The Fish Doctors will gently nibble on your skin and provide massage to your feet at the same time.





Mommy was still guessing non-stop even minutes before we reached our destination. Is it SPA? KTV? Massage??? Nope! none of the above. I was beaming with satisfaction that she did not manage to get the right answer.

The staff there were very friendly and knowledgeable too. When they knew it was our wedding anniversary, they even gave us an additional 15 mins for the dip.

But alas, I didn't expect Mommy to be so terrified of the fish nibbling her. Once she put her feet in, she quickly retracted them. I was prepared to leave. Mommy insisted that we should stay. I knew she didn't want me to feel bad.

Initially, Mommy only mustered enough courage to dip her heel in, then slowly after some tapping and distraction, she managed to dip her both feet in. So proud of her!

We completely the 45 minutes of dip together. The final product was pretty good too cos the feet were visibly fairer and smoother. Mommy said perhaps next time, when she mustered enough courage, we can come again.

The feel of giving someone a surprise is really nice. Seeing Mommy in suspense, trying to guess where I will bring her to. But it is really 人算不如天算, the final person to get the surprise was actually myself. Sigh! got to do a better job next year... our 10th anniversary :)

A Secret Formulation :)

Since my wife has shared how the vitamin C 'saved the day' for our children, I also like to share our secret formulation to fight cough and cold.

Whenever, I sensed that cough or cold symptoms are building up, I will pop in 2 tablets of PolyC (vitamin C) and 2 tablets of Proflavanol (grapeseed extract, super duper antioxidant). I will do it twice a day. Believe it or not, most times, with this formulation, I can easily ward off an up and rising cough or cold.

If 'sway sway', cannot suppress the cough or cold, it will go off in a shorter period as compared to previously. Really, my wife and I are totally sold on this formulation. No need to see doctor and get ourselves so drowsy from the cough/cold medication.

Try it yourself ...

Just a thought

My father just completed his second cataract operation. Everything is going well for him. He says that his vision is no longer blurred. Even the doctor is impressed with the rate of recovery for someone my father's age.

The visionex supplement I gave him has really helped tremendously. :) Now that, my father has seen the positive effect himself, he has finally 'approved' the use of supplement on himself already. Yippee!

Just that these few days, a scene kept surfacing in my mind. That day, at the hospital clinic, I saw lots of elderly. You may say, what is so uncommon about seeing elderly at the cataract clinic... Old already will kanna cataract what??? No, no. that was not what I meant. I meant, where are their children? Aren't they supposed to be with their parents when they are not well?

Maybe, I won't say 100% elderly lah. There are a few young ones but they are maids, not closed ones to the patients. The maids are not even communicating the old person. The old person is just sitting there, keeping to himself the whole session. And I kept asking myself this question, where are their children?

At work? Too busy? No time?

It just reflects on our society that young people are all too busy working. The word 'busy' is easily the most used word in their dictionary. Sometimes, they just neglect the most important thing i.e. their family, their loved ones.

Reflecting back, I am just glad I made the decision to move forward. Else, I will not be able to be there with my father.

A Gruelling 5 Days

Kai Hock and I both agreed that it was a gruelling past 5 days. We were like a pair of meerkat doing our sentry duties religiously.

Jiaheng came down with fever on Saturday afternoon, then he just got worse and hit 39.7C on Sunday night. Despite taking paracetamol and high fever medication like Brufen, the fever merely dropped one degree and hovered around 38.5C.

His whole body was burning, lips turned deep red from the heat. When you hold him in your arms, you seem to be holding a bundle of charcoal. I must say, Jiaheng took things in his stride pretty well. Everytime, you asked him how is he feeling, he will say "Good".

"GOOD!!!", how can anyone feel good when you are approaching 40C??? Still, I appreciate his toughness cos it made the whole process much comforting for us.

We first brought him to a Western doc on Sunday who just told us the fever is due to virus. Gave us 2 bottles of fever medication which hardly helped. Then we decided to bring him to our Natural therapist doc who gave him some homeopathy drops for the virus and taught us how to use Vitamin C to help his body fight the virus. This method was much more helpful.

We are supposed to give him Vitamin C every 2 hours until he starts to have diarrhoea. When he has diarrhoea, it will mean his body is saturated with the vitamin C. Then we stop and let his body fight the virus. We decided to pound the Vitamin C tablet and mix it into his milk for Jiaheng.

I must say the USANA Poly-C we used was really potent. A small tablet but really really "a hard tablet to crack". We pounded with a metal pound (those type you used to tenderise meat). One pound, nothing happened, not even a crack! Then another, then another pound... finally, we managed to break into smaller pieces, then we had to use a metal spoon to crush the small pieces into powder. This cycle repeated itself every 2 hours.

One day passed, no diarrhoea yet. Our natural therapist friend told us that it is because Jiaheng's body has used up every single mg of the Vitamin! The second day went by, still no diarrhoea but at least he managed to go to the toilet.

We are real glad that we supplied Jiaheng with the Vitamin C else he will have a tougher time to bounce back. Finally, on Thursday night, the fever is gone and he slept like a baby that night. We finally heaved a sigh of relief.

I still remembered that evening when his fever was still not going down and I was bathing Jiaheng. I saw his face in the mirror reflection, he had dark circles under his eyes, face looked so pale. Then when I touched the back of his head to wash his hair, I can feel the sizzling heat from his head. At that moment, I just felt like crying.

Even though Kai Hock and I are left with a pair of "panda eyes", we are very happy that the whole incident is over and we have our healthy Jiaheng back.

---- posted by Mommy

A touching song

The first time I heard the song, I was drawn by the beautiful voice of the singer. Then when I understood the meaning of the lyrics, I love this song even more. Very touching and meaningful words.

I am sharing this song with you, and I am sure you will learn something from it too.

---- posted by Mommy

嘿！嘿！你真棒！

Last Sunday, Jiaheng went for an abacus competition. He was the one who requested to join the competition. Kai Hock and I believe that learning always happens when there is fun so we initially didn't really want him to go. After all, he is just 5 years old. Too early for competition lah. But since Jiaheng thought it was FUN, so we just went with his request.

There were about 500 children at the competition. What's even scarier is the number of parents! Easily double the number of children (maybe even more, plus the maid, the extended family... aiyoh) The whole place was just jammed with people, people and more people!

There are two categories. One is the abacus one, the other is the mental calculation. Jiaheng signed up for both.

Quite amusing to see our own son doing the competition cos he was in the big hall and we parents can only see them through the glass windows. A bit like Charlie Chaplin movie. No sound, only movements. We see their hands raise and then come down, raise and then come up. Then start doing the sums, then raise hands.

And the ultimate thing is we caught Jiaheng yawning just before the competition started. YES! yawning... aiyoh.

The whole event lasted from 1 pm to 5.30 pm with the 4 rounds of competition, answers marking, prize presentation all thrown in.

We are proud to announce that Jiaheng came in second for his abacus category and third for his mental category. Look at his cheeky expression...



Jiaheng says he still wants to go next year.

---- posted by Mommy

Jiaheng's love story with his abacus

Since young, we have been taught how to use paper and pencil to do addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. Then when we got older, we got dependent on our calculators. We even have calculator function in our mobile phones. By and by, we lost touch with the ability to do mental calculations, or rather, we become lazy to do so.

If not for Jiaheng, I guess I will never be associated with ABACUS.

Jiaheng has always been fascinated with numbers. We kind of regretted teaching him the term "infinity" because after that he kept 'stalking' Kai Hock and me with big numbers. How many hundred plus how many hundred, then subtraction by how many hundred. Then it grew to thousands. Really tak boleh tahan liao.

Then Papa came up with this brilliant idea to send Jiaheng for abacus class. Then he can do the big numbers plus and minus himself. Then we can be SPARED...!

That sparked it all off. The love story of Jiaheng and abacus...

Jiaheng kept saying that he can see the abacus beads stirring in his head. He always looks forward to going for his abacus class. And that is where we learnt the phrase "嘿！嘿！你真棒！"

Jiaheng is now in Grade 8 for Mental arithmetic and Grade 9 for Abacus arithmetic. Something new for me. Abacus also got grading?! like piano??? The children will start off with Grade 13, then slowly progress up to Grade 1. Then go on to Level 1 and finally reach Level 10. When you reach Level 10, you are really the Master (Shi fu) liao.

Currently, Jiaheng is doing 2 digits, 10 numbers for his Abacus; and 1 digit, 6 numbers for his Mental, plus and minus included.

We are happy that Jiaheng is enjoying his abacus lessons. Ultimately, we are not looking at a boy genius in our house, rather, we are looking at brain stimulation. If we don't stimulate his brain when his brain cells are growing, are we only going to do it when his brain cells start to die?

When we were young, our parents are not aware about child-hood development. They are not aware that children develops most and best before the age of 6. Now, we know it and we want to do something about it so that we don't short-change our children.

There are many arguments about whether single hand stirring or two-hands stirring is better. I guess there are pros and cons to everything. So, we fixed our criteria on the fact that his school's style can stimulate both sides of the brain cos he uses both hands to stir the beads.

... and the by-product is we got a calculator-Quek in the family. :P


----- posted by Mommy

Can this be true?

This evening, Yixuan went for her 3rd vaccination. This is supposed to be the last one after her earlier 6-in-1 doses.

But before her vaccination, I asked the doctor if we could check her height and weight. It has been ages since I last measured her height. Yixuan seems to be so much shorter when she stood next to her brother. Her brother has always been in the 97th percentile range. People often comment that he looks much taller than his age. Secretly, I do contribute this to the fact that he takes supplements cos Papa & Mommy are not those tall tall type.

When I look at the duo 6 months ago, there was a huge gap. 6 months later, the height gap is still so big. But blur blur Mommy never factor in the consideration that the brother is also growing. Silly right!

So Mommy always comment that her little girl is so S-H-O-R-T. And can't wait to start her on her supplements once she reached 13 months of age. Today, Mommy decided to ask doctor to measure her. And surprise surprise! Doc says she is 86 cm! Once out of the clinic, Mommy can't wait to take out the health booklet, flip to the chart which does Height-for-age comparison and UNBELIEVABLE... Yixuan is at the 97th percentile! Can this be true???

So our little girl girl is not S-H-O-R-T after all! Hiak Hiak Hiak! Mommy is beaming with joy. :) Must carry on the effort to supplement her, then she will grow taller and healthier ...

----------- posted by Mommy

我们的小小客人

昨天和今天，我们接待了来自英国的小客人，敏涵(a.k.a. Anna)。当然还有我的老友，那就是敏涵的娘。

孩子们都很高兴家里来了客人。 我的妈妈更是乐得看小敏涵吃她的小点心。一边说敏涵吃得多么多么快，多么多么多， 一边想着自己的孙女能够吃得这样多该多好。（老人家就是那样。。。总喜欢多吃多吃）

敏涵还真是讨人喜爱。脸颊总是红红的， 象极了妈妈。见到人就笑，名副其实的开心果。还有她那惊人的毅力！当她已设定了目的地， 她就往前冲。不论在她面前的障碍有多大(oops! sorry Aoqun, not saying that u are huge k)，都无法使她止步。敏涵总有法子爬过去。那种毅力和 never say die attitude 真是值得我们这些大人学习的。

很高兴能够和老友度过两个下午。谈谈天，说说地。看看孩子， 捉捉小瓜。吃吃东，尝尝西。时间很快的过了。

下午乘着伞，遮他们两母女上车时，突然感到很不舍。下次再见时可要等到明年新年了。

---- posted by Mommy

Mommy in Baby's Eyes

Yixuan is very intrigued by Ge Ge's pictures. We have loads of them pasted on the walls around the house as well as in home-made picture books. She will go pick out one book, flip the pages and call out at the people in it.

Just the other day, she repeated her act. The only difference is that she was calling the people wrong, she kept pointing at Ge Ge's pictures and calls Ma Ma.

"No no, this is Ge Ge. Say, G... E.. G... E.." Mommy kept repeating.

But Mommy is wrong, Yixuan did see her Mommy in those pictures! I only realised that when Yixuan pointed. See below and see if you can spot Mommy (more correctly, parts of Mommy) too. :)










------ posted by Mommy

7 years worth of supplements !

Recently, my father found that his vision is deteriorating. Upon a check-up, we found that he had cataracts and is supposed to go through a surgery to remove it.

My father said "Ah ya... it is part of growing old lah, cannot help it". But I seriously don't think so. Why can't people age gracefully with a healthy body to enjoy their golden years? That started my father's and my 'debate' in my attempt to help him understand how to achieve better health.

Below is just an abstract
-------------------------
Why do we have cataracts when we age? Because the culprit behind this is degeneration of cells as we grow old.
Why do cells degenerate? Because the degenerated cells don't have sufficient raw materials to repair and rebuild.
What can help cells regenerate? Anti-oxidants!

In fact, most of the common diseases we see today like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, cancer are mainly degenerative diseases.

So if they are degenerative diseases, we already have the solution to better health isn't it?
We just need a quality Anti-oxidants with the correct quantity.

Then my father said "But it is so expensive to take supplements, and I am so old already, no need to have all these". Luckily, I am prepared for this, and so I did the Maths for him.

His operations and consultations this time round for both eyes come up to about $7000. If we were to invest this sum of money into Anti-oxidants supplements, we can easily supply him with 7 years worth of supplements.

The better deal is he does not need to go through the pain of operation, and the anti-oxidants can also protect his other organs. Isn't it killing multiple birds with one stone.

FINALLY! I managed to convince my father that he should start his supplements today.

I am really very happy that my father is on the path to better health. I know that I can't guarantee that my father will not be knocked down by major illnesses from today onwards due to the many years of unhealthy eating and stress. But, I do know, I have done the best I can to help him with his health. It also serves as an important lesson to those who are younger with more years ahead of them to build up their health while they can.

I promise myself to talk health to my friends and relatives so that they can make an informed decision and own their health.

Jiaheng's first compo

I remembered the time when I was in Kindergarten, it was just the routine chalk and talk lessons. No doubt we also learn the alphabets & numbers, do colouring & art and craft, the way the lessons were conducted were still very conservative.

School lessons nowadays are really more creative and innovative than the ones we had years back. Recently, Jiaheng brought back a 'friend' from school. His 'friend' is supposed to spend a weekend with us and then Jiaheng is supposed to write an essay about what they have done together. His 'friend' is non-other than the infamous "Ee-yore" from the Winnie the Pooh gang.

Of course, the school could have just set the children a composition entitled "The Adventures of Ee-yore" and make the children sit down to conjure and document down an adventure. However, they chose the more 'hands-on' method by making the children live the adventure with Ee-yore. Which adventure do you think will leave a deeper impression in the minds of the young ones?

Apparently, the school is doing some activities revolving around the theme of PETS. The children have been tasked to bring a pet soft toy to school. During the circle time, they are supposed to introduce their pet to their class. Then Ee-yore the ambassador, will follow a child home each week, then the child will document Ee-yore adventures in a book. This book will then be passed to the next child.

Talking about circle time... hmmm... what a great way to introduce public speaking and building up confidence in the young ones. Imagine facing an audience and standing in front of the whole class and yet be able to talk freely. This task could have proven to be too difficult for many adults. Yet, the children have no issues with this. Daring, adventurous, willing to take risk, not afraid of failure... our children. Sadly, we lose much of these good qualities along the way when we grow up. Sometimes, we have so much to learn from our children.

Share with you what Jiaheng wrote...



--- posted by Mommy

Our Money Jars Work

I came back from T Harv Eker Millionaire Mind Intensive course with a totally different perspective of money.

The MMI course changed the way I view money, manage money and grow money. To me, this is one course that I think is truly value for money. Just a mere two hundred plus dollars for a 3-day intensive course. Harv really over-delivered. So much good information to walk away with and to apply.

If you are keen to get an insight into a Millionaire Mind, go to www.themillionairemindcoach.com
[psst... tell u a secret, got free ticket to National Achievers Congress if you can commit before 25 april. Good bargain]

Let me give you an example of what Harv taught me on how to manage money. It is really working very well for us.

Harv suggested that we maintain 6 money jars which we label as "NESS", "GIVE", "PLAY", "EDU", "LTSS" and "FFA". And of course, there is a certain % of your monthly income tagged to each jar.

NESS (55%)
- Necessity Fund. Money for our daily expenses etc.
GIVE (10%)
- Charity Fund. To give out to one charity organisation of your choice every month. The more you give, the more you will receive.
PLAY (10%)
- Play Fund. To spend your money without guilt. Pamper yourself, indulge yourself.
EDU (10%)
- Education Fund. To use it on seminars, books, workshops etc. to grow yourself
LTSS (10%)
- Long Term Savings. Can be used to purchase a more costly item, or save up for a trip.
FFA (5%)
- Financial Freedom Account. Something so important, yet so often neglected by people.

Every week, when we receive the cheque from our home-based business, we will split it up into the various proportions and deposit into the money jars.

I simply love the "PLAY" fund. You see, my wife and I are more of the savers type. Not sure if you can associate with me, but we often measure financial security with the amount of savings in the bank. So the "PLAY" fund allows us to spend without guilt cos it has been planned for right from the beginning. Anything is fine as long as it makes you happy. Be it a Spa relaxation, a sumptuous meal, a new pair of shoes... the list just goes on.

We just took out all our savings from the "LTSS" fund to purchase a new sofa. If we do not have this fund set-up, I am pretty sure we will overspend on the sofa. With this fund in place, we spent within our limits and yet have money left over for other purposes.

To me, the most important fund should be the "FFA" fund. The money from FFA can be used for investment (e.g. stocks, bonds, run a biz) to generate more money. That is the secret behind how the rich get richer. That is how you can plan for your retirement.

I am so intrigued by Harv's teaching that I am adapting his teachings and coaching my business partners ONLINE every night at 10pm. If you are keen to drop by our econference room to listen in to the teachings, drop me an email kaihock@gmail.com

At times like this...

When Yixuan fell and cut her lips;
no amount of coaxing can stop her streams of tears.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

When Yixuan threw up again, again and again;
dehydrated and tired.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

When Yixuan was running a fever;
her small body burning and all appetite gone.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

When Yixuan's tooth was about to cut through the gum;
uncomfortable and cranky.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

When Yixuan was woken by a bad dream;
scared and dreamy.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

When Yixuan was over-stimulated in the day;
tired and fussy before bedtime.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

When Yixuan wants to have her "Mommy & me" time;
just her and me.
At times like this, I am glad I can still breastfeed her.

To all the great mummies out there. You are the best!

-------- posted by Mommy

Another breakthrough

Today at breakfast, Jiaheng was looking intently at the orange box on the dining table.



It is for some sachets of powder used to make an alkaline drink. Just got it from mum this morning, so it is the first time Jiaheng saw it. So maybe that explains why he is so interested in the box. After some time, Jiaheng told me "Mommy, it is correct. " "What is correct, Jiaheng?" I asked.

"Mommy, you see here. (pointing at the bottom left corner of the packaging) It says 112 g NET. And it is correct."
"How do you know, Jiaheng?"
"Well because xxgsgdeg kdsgj adikg adklgj ... that is why it is 112 g"

Jiaheng said a series of things which included some multiplication and some adding and some subtraction in it. At that time, I was still not in the right frame of mind to really catch his argument. So I asked him to hold on and let me get a piece of paper to write down what he said.

While he repeated his argument again, I quickly scribbled down some notes so that I can verify it. Here is how it looks like

How? Can catch any ball? Ermmphh! Let me decode the "Jiaheng-vinci code" for you.

On the box, it was stated 112 g NET, 28 sachets each 4 g NET.

That was why he got 4 x 10 = 40 (for 10 sachets), then he went on to get the total for 30 sachets (i.e. 40 x 2, 40 x 3 = 120g). But 30 sachets are too much, so he used his abacus formula to deduct 4 g (-10+6) and then deduct another 4 g (+1-5). Finally 112 g.

Well, this definitely is not the quickly or least number of steps way of getting 112. However, it did amaze me in the way his mind is able to handle multiple steps and doing all those multiplication, addition and subtraction all at one go. :)

Then I said, how else can we get 112? What about 28 x 4? And he said yes, it will be 28 + 28 + 28 + 28. Also can, he concluded.

So after checking and doing double checking, Jiaheng is now very happy with his own conclusion that the printing on the box is "mathematically correct"! (of course lah, son) And carried on with his breakfast.

To me, it is another breakthrough for him to handle such complex sums even before turning 5. Good job, son. Love you.

----------- posted by Mommy

Drama Queen

I think we have a Drama Queen at home. Perhaps, even TCS Caldecot Queen may not be as 才华横溢 as our Drama Queen.

This evening, we were all in the room busying. Jiaheng was very kind and offered his service to help me sort out some documents with the help of Mommy. I was replying email. Our dear Drama Queen was also very busy... busy walking in and out of the room in her 'majestic manner'.

As our Drama Queen was making her grand exit, we heard a thump sound. And then she was standing outside the door (pretending to whine in pain) and kept pointing to her tummy (or so we thought). She always points at her tummy and make a whining sound when she needs to pass motion. I asked her "Want to poo?" She did not acknowledge me and kept pointing to her 'tummy' with a pitiful look on her face.

Then Mommy asked "怕怕吗？" Almost immediately, our Drama Queen swung into action. She got down onto her knees and slowly and carefully lower her small body to lie down sideways on the floor.

Orh... she was actually pointing to her chest which means scared and not tummy as I thought (can't be helped! Her body torso is barely 50 cm, how to be exact which part she is pointing to????) And our Drama Queen was dramatising what happened when we heard the thump sound. She actually tripped on her way out of the door. So the whole episode is re-played right before our eyes.

Drama! Drama!

黑目客

可怜的妈妈，竟然变成了一位“黑目客”。

妈妈的左眼睛又肿又积了一大片瘀血。连弟弟的那幅大大又stylish的墨镜都掩盖不了那大大片的瘀血！好可怜。。。看得我们都很心痛。老公也带了妈妈去看了医生。妈妈自己也去看了一次医生。已经一星期多了还是黑黑的一大片。

是谁!!! 谁是那罪魁祸首!!!

Oopps! 原来是怿萱。有没有搞错。。。 一个不到一岁半的小泥子尽然把一位年过半百的妇人“打得这么伤”。Freak accident lah， 怿萱在玩得忘我的境界下，一跌就跌在躺在床上休息的婆婆上，狠狠地在眼睛附近送上一击。大大的冲击力使眼睛周围的细血管破裂才搞得婆婆变成了“黑目客”。

弟弟的婚礼将近。新娘要美美， 这位准家婆也要美美的。。。妈妈开始着急了。Take it easy mom, doc says will heal in another 10 days. Phew! Just remember to claim accident insurance from me hor. Paiseh...


---- posted by Mommy

Contagious Laughter

That's Papa's Happy Gal. :)

Going Vegetarian

As AQ and family are back from UK for the New Year, we met up with a few other PS mates for a dinner. After that dinner, Jiaheng decided to go vegetarian.

Woah! Dun get me wrong, there is nothing magical about the dinner. Just that, prior to the dinner, the teacher at DiZiGui passed us a VCD to educate children to refrain from killing, 杀生。Then at the dinner, we ordered a steam fish and roasted chicken. Perhaps, something clicked in Jiaheng's mind when he saw the 2 big plates in front of him and he decided he doesn't want to 杀生。

Then mommy decided to be 'naughty' and test her boy a little. "Jiaheng, you really want to go vegetarian?" "If you do, you cannot eat 'bak bak' that Ah Ma cooks you know?" (BTW, that 'bak bak' dish is Jiaheng's favourite and grandma will cook it specially for him every weekend)

"Where does 'bak bak' come from Mommy?"
"From pork"
"Where does pork come from Mommy?"
"From pig"
"Orh. Then I dun want to eat 'bak bak' already"

Frankly speaking, i was a bit taken aback by Jiaheng's response. I didn't expect him to give up his 'bak bak'.

Then I pushed my luck a little more... hiak, hiak, hiak.
"Jiaheng, then you cannot take char siew bao you know?" (mommy really knows where are all the soft spots!)
"Where does char siew bao come from Mommy?"
"The char siew is from pork."
"Orh. Then I dun want to eat char siew bao already" (I thought I spotted a hint of hesitation though :P)

Jiaheng really went vegetable-vegetarian for more than a week... until Sunday morning. We went to the foodcourt for breakfast before going for his Art class. N guess what he saw at the foodcourt?

YES! It is his favourite of his favourites - Japanese food. He relented and decided to queue for his teriyaki chicken. I went over to join him at the queue. Before, I had the chance to ask him... Jiaheng started his 'defence statement'.

"Mommy, today is Sunday, so it's a holiday. That is why I can take the Japanese food. Monday to Saturday, then I take vegetarian." And he completed his 'defence statement' with a nod of his head as if he is in agreement with his justification.

At that moment, Mommy is already bowing over in laughter deep inside but still trying to maintain my composure on the outside. Really kanna 内伤。

Well, I can understand the internal struggle within himself. On one hand, he will like to be compassionate and refrain from killing. On the other hand, Jap food is his FAVOURITE!!! Afterall, he is just a little kid who is barely 5 years old.

Well thanks to Jiaheng, the whole family's diet is changing to the healthier vegetables and soya products like beancurd.

Everything happens for a reason. So I guess Jiaheng's move to be vegetarian allows us to be healthier on top of the supplements we are taking.

------------ posted by Mommy

Yixuan to the rescue

Jiaheng has a kids' study table that comes with a chair at it's matching height.

Yixuan often sees her brother seated at that table and on that chair. And somehow, that has become Yixuan's favourite haunt. Everytime, Yixuan sees an opportunity to climb up that seat, she will. And when, she finally gets on the chair, it sure takes lots of coaxing to get her off it.

Just before dinner, Yixuan finally got her chance to climb onto the chair. She was seated comfortably and contented in the chair when Jiaheng tripped over his scooter bike and fell. Instantly, Yixuan swing into ACTION! Yixuan to the rescue....

First, she let out a screeeaaammmm.... (as if to alert mom and me). Then she got down her favourite chair and stood besides the "victim" and put her small hand on Jiaheng's shoulder (as if to comfort him).

So touched by her actions neh!

----------- posted by Mommy