Don't Use Plastic Combs

I've always told Ace that if he wants to live in a nice house and drive a nice car, he will need to earn alot of money.. to do that, the only way is to do a business.. not work a job ;) haha...

I discovered that the business of love has a huge market...

What does tat mean? That means business built on the LOVE of your loved ones or love of yourself has the widest market lah...

The other day, Popo went to market and bought a tortoise shell comb worth $4.50... and just because the Aunty told her that children shouldn't use the $0.20 plastic comb.. it is not good for their body and their scalp... I use plastic to comb my hair all my life leh.. I dun see wat is the diff..

See... so easy to make people increase their budget by 22.5 times!

In my business, people use my facial bar for the love of their face :) There are also many mummies who cannot bear to use the bar themselves but would buy it for their babies with eczema skin or rashes...

Maybe I should start another business based on that... hahaha...

Previous Post: I Want Papa To Come Home

I Want Papa To Come Home

It has been about 3-4 weeks since Max left...

Time flies ya.. we are almost halfway through our countdown..

As mentioned, Ace always will all of a sudden feel upset... or when he feels upset, we will have the below conversation:

Ace: *M shape mouth expression* Where is my papa...

Me: Your papa is in Bahrain

Ace: Why Bahrain?
Me: Because he has to work there..
Ace: Why work?

Yesterday, I think he must have missed his Daddy terribly... cos all of the sudden, after i genly reminded him not to do something, he started to cry.. with tears some more...

Ace: *M shape mouth expression* Where is my papa...
Me: Your papa is in Bahrain
Ace: Why Bahrain?
Me: Because he has to work there..
Ace: Why work?

And he added, "I don't want Papa to work. I don't want Papa in Bahrain. I want Papa to come home!"

So I hugged and told him I will tell Papa that... but because his dad was bz with work these days.. so I told him that Daddy might not be able to call us these few days.. and so I hugged him and told him we all love him and he was ok after a while...

Then, about 2 hours later, his Dad called.. "Ace, Daddy on the phone..." I passed the phone to Ace and he waved his hands to signal "No" to me... why? Because he was eating strawberries lor! Hahaha.. this tam jiak little boy.. got strawberries no need to talk to his daddy..

After he finished his food, he came into the room to talk to his dad.. but after like 5 min, he decided he had enough and said "Bye bye" on his own accord and passed the phone back to me...

The other day we were reading his story book.. titled, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"

I asked him that question and he said.. "When I grow up, I want to go Bahrain.."

"Why?" I asked him.

"To work lor... to find Daddy lor..."

hahaha.. Ace, your Daddy will be back by then lor!

Previous Post: You Are Not My Friend

You Are Not My Friend

Wah, I didn't know 3 year olds are capable of using emotional blackmails related to friendship.

The other day, Ah Yee was in her room and Ace ran inside and told her that he wanted to sleep.

So Ah Yee told him to get his diapers... "You get diapers.." said Ace. "It's your diapers, you are wearing it, go and get yourself..." Ah Yee told Ace.

Ace insisted that Ah Yee should get his daipers and Ah Yee insisted that he go himself and so he gave Ah Yee a angry face... "You are NOT my friend!" he told her..

Having just came back from their Ice Cream Outing.. Ah Yee reminded him... "If I am not your friend, next time I will not bring you to eat Ice Cream already..."

"Mummy will bring me to eat ice cream.. " Ace retorted smugly...

When Ah Yee told me about it.. I nearly fainted...

See, the devilish horns of my son is coming out.. hahahaha ;) I think when he grows up next time, he will be super gao keng like me! hahaha...

PS: The other day, I borrowed some new library books for Ace and Ah Yee wanted to look at his books, when Ah Yee touched his books, he said, "No!" and pushed Ah Yee away.. Ah Yee tried to touch his books again and he told Ah Yee "YOu are not my friend!" Only when I repeatedly reminded him that he is a caring and sharing boy and that Ah Yee will return it to him after she finish reading the book, then did he allow Ah yee to touch and read the book.

Previous Post: Ice Cream

Ice Cream

Ah Yee was feeling bored and she had craving for the CONE of ice cream... so she asked if Ace wanted to go out... and because we noticed that Waipo has been rather grumpy because Ah Yee hasn't been spending much time with her, she decided to invite Waipo along...

When they decided the confirmed their outing, Waipo was still washing dishes and when we turned out heads, Mr Ace Chua was already putting on his shoes.

"I want to go and eat ice cream..." he told me with a smile.

"Oh!" Ace Chua shouted out when he finished putting on his shoes... his shocked expression expressing the fact that he seems to have forgotten something...

"I must change clothes!" He tells us and he quickly took off his shoes and ran into the bedroom where his wardrobe was.

Out he came with a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and even an underwear. "I want to changes clothes to eat ice cream..." When we told him he can wear the tee shirt he was wearing, he insisted that he wanted to change into the clothes he took out.

"Why I cannot change clothes... I want to wear jeans and eat ice cream..." he insisted... So I let him put on his underwear and put on his jeans...

"Can you wear the same t-shirt?" I asked him. "Nooooo, noooooo, noooooooo..." he insisted.. no matter how we explained to him that his tshirt is very nice and good enough for gai gai, he just refused to put it on.. until Ah Yee attempted to put on his t-shirt.. then he wanted his shirt back...

So he happily dressed up and put on his shoes again....

"I want to go eat ice cream! Gong gong, do you want to eat ice cream?" he asked my dad...

And so now, they are happily on the way to NTUC to buy ice cream...
Previous Post: Botak Ace

Botak Ace

We saw Max online yesterday and so I asked him if he wanted to speak to Ace...

Ace saw his daddy and was quite happy and then he started to call his Daddy BOTAK and he would giggle after that.

When I asked him to sing songs for Daddy, his songs would be interspersed with the words Botak all over...

When Max logged off, Ace went into his room and started talking to himself... "I am a botak...hahaha... I am Botak Ace!" He says happily. When Ah Yee asked him who is a botak, he said, "Ace!"

"Mummy, I want to be botak... can you cut my hair botak?" He asked me...

"Why do you want to be botak, Ace?" I asked him...

"Like Daddy lor!"

And then he started singing to himself... "Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to me, happy birthday to BOTAK! Happy birthday to me!!!!!"

I told Max about it.. he says ok, he will come back and cut Ace's hair..

I think Ace is asking for it...

Anyway, Ace said that Gregory and Michael Phua are both botaks... those are his classmates and I din want him to go to school calling people botaks.. so I told him he cannot call them botak unless they are really botak... because we have to be truthful...

Bad idea...

Today, he watched TV and said, "That jie jie scold people shen jing bing..." I asked him if that is right... "Can you call people shen jing bing?"

"Cannot... unless they really shen jing bing lor..." he said..

I faintz....

Previous Post: Mid Autumn Festival Celebration

Mid Autumn Festival Celebration

This year, our celebration was a quiet one. Waipo and Zhen popo bought some mooncakes, we cut it and ate them for tea. In the evening, Popo also brought Ace to the void deck to carry lantern.. alas, because it had been raining, there were not many children around and so Ace kept wanting to go home...

Ace had his fair share of celebration as well though... Ace's school had a mid autumn lantern party.. it was sooooooo crowded... and generally, it was a happy celebration for Ace as he loved sweet stuff like mooncakes...

When his teacher passed him his mooncake, he gobbled it up within a few minutes without sharing with me!

Too bad though that we arrived late.. we only managed to bring him around the school with his lantern.. according to my mum, the parents who arrived early got to watch their children perform.

Apparently, my 3 year old had no stage fright (unlike many kids in his class) and just happily sang and danced... seems that he even knew how to recite some chinese poem too!

Cool!

You can see the pictures of the party here...
http://verityy.multiply.com/photos/album/98/Aces_Lantern_Party_In_School#

Catch Ace's hand made lantern here... well, it is the last chance you will see it anyway... cos it got destroyed the moment he brought it home...

Anyway, I had a chat with Teacher Toh... Ace's form teacher.. she says that Ace is generally a very well behaved child in school.. just that he is a fun-loving soul.. sometimes when he is having fun, he forgets everything else...

"I hope you will understand.. sometimes I have so many children to take care of and if they are not disciplined, I will discipline them and sometimes I will raise my voice.." she said..

Haiyo.. this teacher is cute lah.. I also raise my voice at my son.. who am I to insist she cannot raise her voice at him?:) Most impt is we try not to lah.. anyway, to put the teacher at ease.. i told her I am not the SNAP... Sensitive new age parent that goes, "Why you hit my son... why you scold him..." I belong to the old school of thought.. while I think love is important... I think teachers have the right to do what they deem right to the children.. as long as they have a strong basis of love for the children.. I don't really care...

Anyway, I told her that most of the time, Ace doesn't really care if you scold him... "But sometimes he will cry..." she said..

"Orh... is like that one lah.. if you scold him and he cries.. usually it is because he knows he is at fault.. it is out of his own guilt... not because you scold him.. dun worry about it.." I told her..

I wonder how many parents are like me!?:) hahaha...

Previous Post: Master Of Persuasion and Motivation

Master Of Persuasion and Motivation

These days, I am rather disgusted by "persuasion"...

I have no doubt that this is an important skill set but I am judgemental towards it because one of the best master of persuasion I know has actually demonstrated how persuasion, like fire, can turn from a good slave.. to a bad master...

I have always admired people with good skills of persuasion.. amazed by how they can not just negotiate their way through things but can actually persuade people to do all the things they do not want or like to do... Notably, it is a useful skill to have... especially if you have a 3 year old kid..

My this good friend has such good skills of persuasion.. he can sell off a useless crystal for $5000.... when he was selling Spirullina, he talked about how good it was and made it seem like it was the best food in the whole world... and then when he started selling some other form of algae, he told the people who previously bought his spirullina, "Aiyoh... this one is only used to feed fish leh..."

So you see.. the thing about persuasion is this... it may seem all good to you and logical now.. but after a good night sleep or after sometime, you will ask yourself.. "Why am I doing this ah?"

The person who bought the useless crystal sweared off 1000meters away from this friend thereafter... the person who narrated the story about the fish food story was full of disdain for this friend...

I even had a kind hearted, good natured friend quarrel with that good friend just because he felt like he is constantly being persuaded to do things he does not want to... and when he wakes up from the 'hypnosis', he curse and swear and ask himself why is he doing this....

I followed a friend to some MLM talk today and I must say all the persuasion that they used really bought back bad memories of that good friend... haha.... so, while I kept telling Ace he is a master of persuasion, I kind of regretted saying that to him now..

But I guess being full of love and being innocent... Ace would probably only use persuasion like a good slave.. I may worry too much..

I am glad in my current business as a trader and supplier, I don't need to use persuasion.. just facts and figures.. Ai lai mai sua ;) haha...

Nevertheless, I think Ace does have some concept on how to motivate or persuade people to do things the wants them to do..

Just take this morning for instance...

I was sleeping and Ace woke up, bathed and dressed up for school and my mum asked him to go into the room "and ask your mama to wake up to bring you to school..."

Ace came into my room and said, "Mama.. wake up already.. do you want to drink juice? Wake up and drink fruit juice already.. I also want to drink juice now..."

He went out of the room and my mum chided him.. "Aiya, ask you go and wake mummy and ask her to bring you to school why you ask her to drink juice? Quick, go inside and ask Mummy to wake up and bring you to school..."

So Ace walked into my room again and asked me, "Mama, do you want to drink juice? Do you want to wake up and drink juice?"

I think my son is a smart boy lor.. Even though I am not really enticed by juice, that is a much more pleasant way of asking me to wake up and needless to say, I woke up lor :)

Previous Post: Barney Lantern

Barney Lantern

A week before mid autumn's festival, me and Ah Yee brought Ace to Bedok Interchange for a stroll... unfortunately, he saw a cute Barney lantern and kept saying that he wanted it.

I looked at it and saw that it is the MOST EXPENSIVE amongst the lot... The other lanterns were $4.90 and that particular Barney lantern is $6.90...

Because Yeye and Nai nai also said they would buy him a lantern, I decided not to buy him one..

Alas, I found out that his school has a mid autumn celebration and because Yeye and Nainai haven't bought his lantern yet.. I last min went to find a lantern to buy him..

I contemplated about whether to buy that Barney lantern for him or not...

"Wah lau... dun ngiaw lah.." Ah Yee said. "You earn so much money this month selling bars... (read about my "GOLD" BARS here) what is another $2 to you.. just make him happy lah..."

So I think, thought and thank.... since Ace was a good boy and also because I really pitied him for not having his dad around for so long... I decided to buy him the Barney lantern...

Unfortunately.. the lantern came with music and I nearly died from the NOISE... Lucky the uncle taught me to take up the little holes so that the music becomes softer...

But Ace is very happy lah.. he keeps hugging his barney and dancing with his lantern and keeps reminding me that he has to bring his lantern to school during the school party... Good lah.. can deflat the barney after the party and then next year, RECYCLE! hahaha...

Previous Post: Ace Genius!

Ace Genius!

I am so proud of my son!

He is only three years old and can colour so well!

The other day, he was given a Shichida homework and it was to colour this cow... my mum asked him if he wanted to do his homework and he said yes..

So she took out the crayons and asked him what colour he wanted to use for each item and just passed him the colour crayon... the rest he did himself lor...

Nice right?!:)

I am so proud of my son!

Previous post: Teacher Ace

Teacher Ace

I think like ALL children, Ace's very first ambition is probably to become a TEACHER!

Recently, he has taken to taking out books and reading them aloud just like his school teacher...

I am most amazed though... that when he takes out english books, his "story" would be english... and if he is reading a chinese book... his "stories" will be in chinese...

Teacher Toh told me that Ace is really cute.. he will run to you and then try so hard to express alot of things at one shot and all you hear are just a few phrases he commonly uses but you don't really understand what he is saying at all...

His storybook reading is pretty much the same...

According to Popo, who spends more time with him at home, Ace's Chinese stories always includes phrases like 宝宝，妈妈，小兔，乖乖because of the chinese story she always tells him before bed time...

Anyway, he is developing a healthy book habit. Now, everyday in the morning when he wakes, he will take out his library books and attempt to read to himself.. I think he is starting to become more and more like me! :)

Previous Post: Goody Good Glasses

Goody Good Glasses

Some time back, I borrowed a book titled GOODY GOOD GLASSES for Ace.

It is about a vegetable.. I think it was a cucumber.. who ordered this GOODY GOOD GLASSES and after it came in the mail, he put it on and started doing goody good things until he realized that he is a good boy and doesn't need the glasses anymore..

As Ah Yee is going away soon to France, her office girls did a farewell party for her and the theme was NERD Theme... so she bought a pair of nerdy glasses for the party..

When she came home.. Ace was so fascinated with the glasses and wanted to put them on everyday... I told him they are his goody good glasses and asked him to do goody good things when he put his glasses on... but well, I guess he is already quite goody good lah...

I went to his lantern festival party the other day and his teacher told me that he is most of the time a good boy in school.. the only thing is that sometimes he has so much fun he will forget everything else.. looks like he is a fun-loving person :) haha...

Previous Post: Ask Police To Catch Gong Gong

Ask Police To Catch Gong Gong

The other day when I came home, my mum started to complain to me about Ace...

"Your son ah.. take off all his clothes... so happy.. run around naked in the house..." my mum complained..

Actually, Ace does that very often.. every now and then, he will start to giggle and then he will start to take off all his clothes and started to dance around the house... as I think being naked is natural for children, most of the time, I let him be and will ask him to put on his clothes after a while lest he catches a chill...

But my mum thinks it is very rude to be naked and is so worried that Ace will do the same thing in school and so she tried to apply scare tactic to make Ace stop..

"Do you know it is illegal to take off all your clothes in singapore in public?" My mum asked Ace. "Wait I as policeman to come and catch you..." she scared him...

But Ace just retorted.. "Orh... Gong Gong never wear clothes, wait ask policeman come and catch gong gong...

It seemed natural to him that since my dad doesnt wear any tops in the house, he should also be caught by policemen in that case... so my mum had to explain that at least gong gong was wearing his bottoms... after much cajoling, he was finally willing to put off his clothes..

I laughed at my mum... "Wah lau, you are teacher leh.. still use "POLICEMAN" scare tactic... no standard leh.."

"It's true what, it is illegal to run around naked in Singapore wat.." she insisted..

Previous Post: I am SORRY

I am SORRY

My son can now apologize on his own without me needing to prompt him.

Everytime when Ace does something wrong, we will ask him to apologize to the relevant party. Sometimes we do it so often (because he is a really cheeky boy and is quite violent in that his games usually involve hitting people or even biting them sometimes...) we wonder if we are doing the right thing.. cos we don't want our son to end up feeling sorry for everything he does...

I feel it is one thing to be considerate.. but it is another to beat yourself up for everything that you do and to sacrifice at all times just because you want other people to be happy.. so we really do not know how in the world to explain this to Ace and how to draw the line...

In the end, I think LEADING BY EXAMPLE is the only way. So when I accidentally hit Ace, I will tell him that I am sorry.. Then I will tell him it is not a big deal to make mistakes.. we all make mistakes and you just need to apologize to the relevant parties and learn from your mistake lah.. don't do it again.. Mummy will always forgive you and mummy will always love you.

The other day, he accidentally hit me and so I playfully hit his buttock. His face immediately went into an M-shape and he started to use his hands to rub his eyes and "CRY"... I say "CRY" with inverted commas because he sounds like he is crying but there are no tears one lor..

"为什么你打我?" he asked me. And then he went to complain to Ah Yee that I beat him and kept asking me..

"为什么你打我?" he kept asking me again and again even though I apologized to him and told him I was only playing with him...

"为什么你打我?"

"为什么你打我?"

So I told him that I was a good girl. I accidentally hit him and I apologized, can he forgive me? Then he nodded his head.

Then I told him that he also hit me.. did he say sorry? He kept really quiet...

"Can you say sorry?" I asked him..

"为什么你打我?" he said and so I had to VERY patiently remind him that I already said sorry and he should say sorry too...

After repeating the same script like 6 or 7 times (because everytime I asked him to apologize to me, he asked me "为什么你打我?".

Finally he did and I hugged him... I always hug and forgive him when he apologizes.

But I guess it drove a point through though.

The other day, he threw all my clothes on the floor and played with his rocking horse while I was sleeping.. "Mummy, wake up.. see, I riding a horse! I am going to 法国！" He shouted at me..

I woke up, saw all my clothes on the floor and asked him why he threw all my clothes on the floor and closed my eyes and went back to sleep.

After about 3 seconds of deep thought, he came off the rocking horse and told me, "Mummy, sorry. 我不要把你的衣服弄乱乱.." and he proceeded to pick up all the clothes and pack it back in nicely for me!

You are such a good boy, Ace!

Previous Post: I Like Your NN

I Like Your NN

The other day, I was preparing to go out already... and I was changing into my going out clothes. Ace was in the room and sitting beside me..

After I put on my clothes, he came near me and used his palms to caress my breasts.. then he told me, "Mummy, 我喜欢你的neh neh leh..."

And then I asked him why he liked my breasts... "Because I can lie on it lor.." he said.. and then proceeded to lie on my breasts with a contented look.

I told Max when he called from Bahrain about it and said that our POV teacher told us that children are a reflection of our subconscious mind.. "Maybe this is YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS reaction?" I teased him.

"Not maybe, DEFINITELY!" He replied and laughed.

Anyway, I told Ace that he cannot anyhow go and caress other people's breasts because it is rude to do that to other people.

Anyway, Ace said something really heart-warming to me that day... I was bringing him to school, and then he asked me, "Mummy, can I go to Bahrain? Can I go to Daddy's house in Bahrain?"

"Why do you want to go there?" I asked him.

"I want to go and tell Daddy I LOVE YOU!"

Aww......

Previous Post: WHY?!

WHY?!

为什么？

That is like Ace's favourite catch phrase these days... Everything he also ask you "为什么 xxxx?" It is always 为什么this, 为什么that.

Different people, however have different reactions to this strange hobby of his. Yeye is very proud of it and says Ace is so clever that he can ask questions he cannot answer. And then he will tell his favourite story of how he told Ace his legs were painful and Ace started asking him 为什么？Why Yeye's leg is painful?

Because Yeye is old..

为什么？Why Yeye is old?

Because Yeye born earlier than you..

为什么？Why yeye born earlier..

You get the idea lah..

Sometimes when we go out, he will ask me questions like.. "What is this.." I tell him, "That is a truck.." And then he will ask, "为什么truck?" Usually I anyhow give him an answer related to the description of the thing involved because it is really difficult to answer this sort of question..

Now, he has already 'improved' and gone to a HIGHER level than before!

The other day he was being naughty cos he went to mess up the kitchen and threw the little corn ears all over the floor and so popo hit him.

"为什么？why you beat me?" He asked popo as he cried.. so Popo explained to him that that is a naughty behaviour.. blah blah blah.. "为什么？Why gong gong angry..." and so popo explain to him again... And that got him going...

He started to ask a whole slew of "为什么？Why cannot do this"... "为什么？Why cannot do that" sort of of questions.

Sometimes when I scold him, he will ask me, "Where is my Popo..." and cry.. and then when I say Popo is at home.. "为什么 Popo at home?" and continue to cry.. that really gets on my nerves sometimes..

But well, sometimes just to irritate him and make him blur, I will give a tit for a tat... Once he gets going and ask me "为什么?" I will give him and answer and then I will quickly ask, "为什么？" And then continue to answer.. like I pre-empt his next 3-4 questions and ask them myself instead and then he will give a blur look and stop asking so many questions...

Hahaha

PS: Max says that now that he is away so long and dun get to hear my constant chatter Ace's 101 WHYs... HE MISSES IT! hahaha....

Previous Post: 11:36

11:36

We were supposed to go over to my in law's place to pay respects to our ancestors. Since Max was not around, I decided to bring Ace over to be representative from our family.

I told my mum about it and early in the morning when I was still sleeping, Ace woke up and my mom bathed him and told him that he will be going to his Yeye's house today. So right after he changed into his clothes, he came to me and woke me.... "Mummy, 起来了，我们要去公公家了!"

I told him that we were going at around 12 noon and counted the number of hours with him.. so he went out to play, eat breakfast and mind his own business. I woke up and played with him for a while and by 11am, I felt really tired and so I went to take a short nap.

Midway through my nap, my mum asked Ace.. "Ace, 你的mummy还没有起来啊？你们不是要去公公的家吗？”

So Ace came into the room and told me, "Mummy,起来了！时间到了！我们要去公公家了!" And then he looked at his spiderman watch and told me, "It's already 11:36..."

I really got a shock when he said that because I was wondering how come he can come up with such a random but believable time such as 11.36.. i mean, since when did he learn his numbers to the extend he understand 36? He can only count to 10 and cannot even recognize all the different numbers yet.

I grabbed his wrist and tried to read his time. It really was 11.36! I am totally amazed! I am not sure if he read the time correctly cos he knew the numbers or because he got it by pure luck or maybe it was just inspiration as my inspiration and sixth sense has recently started getting active again like when I was active in POV..

I told Waipo about it and she says that I should buy 4D... hahaha ;)

Previous Post: Where is my Papa?

Where is my Papa?

Max is away in Bahrain for two months.

The very first day that Max left, Ace was already starting to miss him.. He would happily play with me or by himself and suddenly, he will give me a sad expression and ask me, "Where is my papa?"

So I will ask him. "Where is Papa leh?" And then he will reply that Max is in Bahrain and remind him that Daddy will only be back two months later. Then he will continue to play as if nothing happened.. and then after a while like 2 hours later, he will suddenly cry and ask me,"Where is my papa..." for no reason

Just now, he asked me, "Mummy, can I scream?"

I tot he wanted to swim so I said we go swimming another day.. "no no no no.. I want to scream.. AHAAAAA..."

I asked him why he wante to scream.. he said, "because my body pain pain lor... " asked him where pain he said his shoulder blades pain pain...

I think is he dunno how to express his feelings of missing you.. so I say Ok.. and then I hugged him and let him scream...

After screaming for a while, he said he is ok and so I kissed his shoulder blades and ask him if he is ok. "Ok.."

I told our second Uncle this story over lunch and he said that I am lucky I have such an emotionally healthy boy who knows how to manage his own emotions..

Well, I hope we will both manage this well and welcome Max home happily ;)

Previous Post: Clearing Obstacles

Clearing Obstacles

I think my son is born successful.

Alot of times in life, when we are on the route to success, we will be faced with obstacles.. most people are so overwhelmed by the obstacle that they will just spend a lot of time staring at the obstacle, analyzing it and worst still, decide to give up in the end....

My son?

He clears it and charges forward lah.. like that is the most natural thing in the world for him..

Ace likes to be carried even though he is 3 and can walk, run, climb stairs. For some unknown reason, whenever he goes out with Max, he will ask Max to carry him. Maybe it because he knows Daddy is stronger or maybe because I always tell him I have got no strength and that
I am carrying alot of things and I have no hand.

Sometimes when he whines because he is tired, I will tell him that all he needs is to tell me that he is tired and want me to carry him and I will carry him.. so recently, he will request properly if he really needs to be carried.

The other day, Max broke his hand and so I told Ace that daddy cannot carry him because his hand is hurt and painful. So when Max got a little better and started to carry him, he told me, "Mummy, Papa的手好了!"

So I showed him the scar and told him that Daddy's hand is still weak and so he cannot keep asking Daddy to carry him.

The other day, we were out way past is usual bedtime and I think he was quite tired. Because I just showed him the scar and reminded him that Daddy's hand is weak, when we alighted from the car, he kept insisting that I pass his box of biscuits to Daddy even though he promised to let me carry it for him.

"你不要拿这个.. " he kept repeating. I asked him who can take it if I am not carrying it. "给Papa lor.." he said.

When I passed the biscuits to his Dad, he pointed to the box I was holding on to.. "你不要拿这个.. " and he kept repeating the same phrase again and again until finally both my arms were empty...

"我很累，我要抱抱!" he told me after that..

Both me and Max laughed out loud lor.... Because I always told him that I cannot carry him cos I am carrying too many things.. before I could give that excuse, he just cleared this obstacle first before going forward to ask for what he wanted... WHAT A CLEVER BOY!?

Previous Post: Persistence

Persistence

A huge part of parenthood lies in training your persistence.. at least that was how it felt whenever I had to go through a "let's see who can persist longer" sort of saga with Ace.

Of course, usually, I win:)

But being able to persist longer is nothing to boast of. Being able to stick by your stand, persist and not lose your temper and still keeping check of your emotions.. and eventually winning your kid over with persistence and patience ALONE.. not fear, threat or guilt.. that, I personally feel is the highest state any parent can reach..

It would be interesting to see that as Ace grows up, who can persist longer ;) Hahaha...

Anyway, we went through an episode related to persistence the other day.

It was like 10 plus at night already and we were supposed to meet up with Mel and Germaine. We told Ace we were going to Tiffany's house and to our surprise, he remembered what I told him a week earlier and reminded us, "We go and visit Tiffany and present give Tiffany..." he said. We were supposed to go there to pass Tiffany her birthday present...

Becuase it was our birthday, Mel and Germaine also prepared a set of presents for us and just so that Ace will not feel left out, he is also given a cow's toothbrush and a packet of Pokey biscuits..

"I want to ahm.." Ace told me when we were going back in the car.

"We eat tommorrow ok?" I asked Ace.

"No, I want to eat now. I want to eat in the car..."

"I am not saying that you cannot eat, we eat tommorrow lah. So late already now and you have to drink milk later.. plus you ate so many things just now..."

"No, I want to open, I want to ahm.."

"Can mama keep it for you?"

"No..."

"Can we put in the fridge and eat tommorow?"

"I don't want to put in fridge. I want to ahm..."

"Well, ok, if you eat now. You can only eat one. If you eat tommorrow, I let you eat all... There are many biscuits inside the box you know..." I told Ace.

"I want to eat now. I want to eat all..."

"If you eat now, you only eat one. The rest will belong to mummy.." I was trying to let Ace understand delayed gratification. "If you eat tomm, you can eat all of them.." I decided to speak his language.. "You want big big biscuits? Then you have to eat tommorrow..."

"I want to eat now. I want to eat all..."

And then I repeated the same lines a few times and Ace repeated the same lines a few times..

I think after I repeated like 10 times, he finally realized I was NOT going to give in. I must say that the thought of giving in is tempting.. just a bloody packet of biscuits anyway.. why be so anal. It is actually very tiring to repeat the same script so many times.. But I remembered that I was delivering a lesson on persistence and delayed gratification here so I stood by my guns.

He started to waver. Instead of saying no, he started to keep quiet. Eventually, he started to nod his head.

But that is only half the battle won.

He started to tear open the box and only stopped when we told him we would throw it all away if he opened the box. "The box spoil lah.." he told us as if explaining why he box is torn...

Anyway, he finally let go of the box and allowed me to hold it for him.

The next morning, he woke up and told me, "我可以吃biscuit了!" and he smiled ;)


Previous Post: Presents

Presents

How will Ace react with all the important people in his life leaving one by one..

I really don't know...

Netnet left about two months ago for France... he will be there for 2 years...

Daddy left end aug to go Bahrain for two months...

Ah Yee will be joining net net in oct for 1.75years

The other day, we asked Ace, where is net net yday.. he says, "Net net 在法国"

then we asked him if Ah Yee is going.. he says "ah yee 没有去"
so we had to remind him that Ah Yee will be leaving soon..

But I think Ace takes comfort in knowing that when these people leave for long periods, they always bring presents along when they come back. And he is also not shy to ask for presents...

When we called back home when we were in Bali.. Ace asked his Daddy, "Daddy, 你买present给我好吗?"

And then when Net net was skyping with Ace, the first thing Ace said to Net net was, "Net net, 我要present..."

Anyway, I think he really misses Net Net and Daddy very much... he told Net Net that he wanted to go to his room in France and always tell me that he wants to follow Daddy and go to Bahrain together with Daddy...

AH Yee says that the day after he skyped with Net net, he woke up early in the morning, went to Ah Yee's room to bug her.. "我要跟net net讲话.."

Anyway, Ace apparently has many fond memories of him and Net Net.. whenever we pass by Tampines Ikea or even the Downtown East, he will say that Net Net brought him there before... Even though it was a few months ago.. he still remembers.. and we din prompt him, he just told us that Net net brought him there..

So Ah Yee is a little jealous.. "Ya la ya lah.. everything also net net bring him there... this Ah Yee is dead one.. invisible one..." cos everytime they go out together, actually Ah Yee was there too but all Ace remembers is Net Net...

I suspect it is because Net Net usually spoils Ace more than Ah Yee. Ah Yee usually dun give in to Ace but Net Net always gives in and carries him when he wants and do basically watever Ace wants...

Previous Post: Stick To Your Decisions

Stick To Your Decisions

Many people make decisions and do not stick to them.

During our Bali Trip, Ace had a chance to learn this lesson.

Waigong bought some durians and kept them in the fridge. When Ace got home, he kept asking to open the fridge... when refused, he made lots of whiny noises and finally after dinner, they decided to open the door of the fridge and take out the wonderous durians..

Ace quickly ran to the door of the fridge and refused to close the door even after Ah Yee took out the durians.

"Ace, we are going to eat the durians now.." Ah Yee told him.

"我不要吃榴莲。我要吃chocholate.." He replied.

"你真的不要吃榴莲?真的要吃chocholate?" Ah Yee reconfirmed with him..

"我不要吃榴莲。我要吃chocholate.." He insisted...

"你真的不要吃榴莲?真的要吃chocholate?" Ah Yee double confirmed with him...

"我不要吃榴莲。我要吃chocholate.." Ace persisted.

So they gave him a chocholate..

And right after he finished eating his chocolate, he burst into tears.."我要吃榴莲!!!!!!!"

Initially Ah Yee didn't want to give him to teach him a lesson.. But in the end, they still gave in... so Ah Yee told him, "Ace, you cannot say u dun want durian then later say u want again. we must always do what we say and say what we do... cannot 反悔 ..."

"SO what did he say to that?" I asked Ah Yee when she told me the story..

"He say ok lor.. Cos by that time he happily eating durian le mah... so anything also ok, "Ah Yee said.

I repeated to Ace that he must be responsible for his own decisions. Everyone is repsonsible for their own life and their decisions.. not always will he get a chance to change his decision and still get what he wants...

Previous Post: Ace Chua: Bali Hotelier

Ace Chua: Bali Hotelier

I just got back from a relaxing trip to Bali with Max.. (See pics here)

After much contemplation, we decided NOT to bring Ace along because we wanted some time for ourselves and also because we were not staying in a child-friendly hotel..

Anyway, we told Bali that we are going for a trip to Bali for a few days. Before I left, I kept reminding him that I will be back on Tuesday.. and that even though he does not see me, I still love him and miss him.. even if he does not see daddy, he loves him and miss him too...

Everytime I repeat that to him, he just nods his head.. so on the day we left, he did not really seem upset.

That being said, he was a little sticky when we came back. He kept saying that he does not want to go to Waipo's house. He only wants to go to Ace's house and only was willing to go when I told him me and his Daddy all going with him.

When he alighted from the car, he still asked me, "Mummy跟Ace一起去外婆的家好不好?" And he looked really serious... he only smiled when I held his hand and told him.. "Ok, let's go together.."

When we came back, I asked him if he wanted to see our photos. "Yes!" he replied excitedly.

So I showed him the photos from the camera and explained to him what is it that we saw over there..

After that, we brought him out for dinner and told him we were going to fetch Yeye and then going to fetch Nai nai from the airport before going for dinner.

Suddenly, out of nowhere, he told me, "我要去airport.." And so I asked him why.

"我要去我的hotel lor..." and when I asked him where his hotel will be in, he said, "Bali lor..."

And then he kept telling me that he wants to go to my hotel in Bali and my swimming pool cos he liked the photos that he saw..

Anyway, I told him he has to make alot of money to build a hotel and it is good he has high ambitions.. And I reminded him that he has to make sure he invites me to stay there...

And then Max asked him who can go to his hotel.. "Ace.. and mummy lor..."

"What about Daddy?" asked Max.

"Daddy stay at home.." he replied.. I think he feels that since his Daddy did not bring him to Bali, he will also let Daddy stay at home.. hahaha... Anyway, I think it is probably some Oedipus at work lah..

Anyway, I am looking forward to the day my son becomes a Hotelier ;) cool!

Previous Post: Possesiveness

Possesiveness

Yesterday, we went to Waipo's house after dinner because Ah Yee said she has not been playing with Ace for a long while and wanted to see and play with Ace.

We reached Waipo's house and were just sitting around. As Ace woke up at 6am in the morning that day, he was kind of tired and literally just lay around in my arms... then suddenly, he requested to "drink milk milk" and for some unknown reason, after he drank his milk, he just suddenly became full of energy and started running around the house and trying to play....

Ah Yee and Net Net bought him this easel stand and so he decided to go and draw. He saw a piece of unknown letter inside the compartment where we put the pens and duster and he took it out, walked over to Ah Yee and said, "这个不要放我这边好不好？"

Wah, so possesive ah.. he sure knows how to take care of his things..

And then Waipo told me that when Ace is not there, they will actually draw things on the easel as well because it was fun to do so.. the other day, Ah Yee and Waipo drew alot of pictures of different fruits on the easel and because we left it in the living room, you can see it the moment you come to the door.

That day, when Waipo brought Ace home from school, before he even stepped into the house, he whined and asked, "为什么画我的？"

The first thing he did when he stepped in was to take off his shoes and then draw three heads on it and then, he felt satisified and decided to go and do something else. "Don't erase ah.." he reminded my mum...

I think he drew himself, daddy and me to remind waipo and ah yee, this BELONGS TO ME! Hahaha....

And then the other day, we were trying to redo his Daddy's bandage and so we took it out and left it on Ace's table cos Ace was asleep... he walked out of the room, saw us sitting at his table and the two bandages on his table, he immediately went into teapot pose... one arm on his waist, one arm with a finger pointing out.. "你为什么放在我的TABLE?!"he exclaimed. Daddy boh pian..had to apolgize to Ace and put it elsewhere..

I dunno whether to laugh or to cry..

Previous Post: The Power Of Ice Cream

The Power Of Ice Cream

Arthur, our coach teaches his kids with rewards.. usually money because his kids are all love money.. like him! Haha.. (Why do you think he is a multi millionaire and we are not.. cos he loves money more than us mah..so money loves him more as well..)

Jez says she got inspired and when her daughter doesn't do homework, she will deduct her pocket money... and then her daughter started to finish all her homework..

The other day, to celebrate my chinese birthday, we did a one day hotel stay at Fairmont and because Ace has not seen his dad for a few days (Max was hospitalized cos he did an operation), we decided to bring Ace along and told him we will bring him for hotel stay and go swimming..

Ace was of course happy like a bird.. especially when his disneyland trip has been indefinitely postponed... and we have decided to go to bali ourselves instead..

On Sunday morning, we decided to go and swimming and strangely.. because of the lure of other children, Ace started to walk into the pool and around the pool..something he refuses to do when we bring him to normal swimming pools.. and then we saw some people jumping into the pool.. and Max tried to get Ace to be brave to do that...

"Give you $10... you jump from there to here.." Max told him. I think he was trying to put to use wat Arthur shared with us..

Alas, I doubt a three year old understands the value of money (other than the fact that he told me he likes hotel and I told him that if he makes alot of money, he can decorate his house like a hotel and feel like he stays in a hotel everyday).

So Max changed strategy... "Give you ice cream if you jump..." Ace shook his head... "Give you big big ice cream.. you want big big ice cream?"

"big big" is Ace's special word to mean ALOT... "YES!" he cried! And so he jumped! And he even did it one more time just for the camera!

Previous Post: Ribena Ad

Ribena Ad

If you grew up in the 80s like me.. you would most probably remember the ribena ad that goes like this..

There is a little boy and a little girl in the school playground...

B: 你在喝什么?

G: 力宾娜，我妈妈说喝了对你有益...

B: 给我一点好吗？

G: 好！给你一点...

B: (drinks a sip) Mmm...

*Giggles together with girl*

Yesterday, my son had a chance to re-enact the 2008 version with the grand daughter of our next door neighbour and it went like this...

Little boy and little girl standing at the door step..

G: 你喜欢喝RIBENA吗?

B:喜欢!

B's Mother (ahem, tat's me lah): Ace, 你咳嗽，你可以喝吗？

G: 你要喝RIBENA吗?

B: 我咳嗽leh..

G: 不要紧，我给你一点点就好...

B: (insistently) 我咳嗽leh.. and waves his hands to say NO

G: 给你一点点就好...

B: (insistently and loudly because he feels she does not understand him) 我咳嗽leh.. and waves his hands to say NO

I laugh lor.. since when you see children reject ribena because they cough.. shouldn't they beg you for it even though they are coughing..

But I really think it is about what you offer him...

When Ah Yee offered to give him ice cream about two hours later... he told us, "我今天好了，我今天没有咳嗽。我可以吃ice cream.."

Anyway, I think Ace is really an abundant kid lah.. no matter where he goes, people always give so freely to him... before the little girl offered him ribena, they already offered him their toy, offered him some biscuits etc...

I was thinking about it the other day and I really think he is a blessed kid.. he never really had to buy clothes because he had a never ending supply.. and throughout his growing up stage, he would get free milk powder, free diapers, lots of free toys.. and when he goes out and meets people, they just like to give him this and that and all sorts of little knick knacks so we never really needed to buy him much toys as well... and not to forget, the moment he was born, he already had a free hospital stay in an upgraded room and a free hamper!!!! He goes to school and his uniform is free, his school bag is free, water bottle also free.. even got a free mickey mouse lunchbox waiting for him.. all courtesy of his godmas, his grandparents and many of our good friends...

Anyway, I do think that Ace is a gift of abundance to the family... I hope he will remember forever all that he has and that he will never feel a lack in his life! ;)

Previous Post: Death

Death

I think Ace is starting to have a concept of DEATH...

The green beans that Ace was growing outgrew their lifespan and started to die.. Ace came and told me, "My plant die already..." when he saw them whither..

The other day when we were watching TV together and the men in the drama serial closed his eyes, Ace told me, "Uncle死..."

But I think his understanding has not come to the extend that he realizes that death means forever goodbye and that is why you will feel sad..

Previous Post: I want to marry Xu Ai

I want to marry Xu Ai

The other day, when Daddy fetched Ace home from school... they had a really amusing conversation...

It was so amusing, Daddy couldn't wait to come home and repeat it to me... Daddy said he was asking Ace about his class and who are his friends and who he likes in his class... In Ace's class, there is a girl who is mixed blood called Xu Ai.. she is really cute... so Ace started naming the classmates that he likes.... "blah blah blah... Xu Ai.. (pause) 我要跟许爱结婚!" he exclaimed..

Could be because I told him a few days ago that the reason why Daddy and Mummy got married is because we like each other..

And then he went on to tell Daddy that when he grows up he wants to make alot of money so that he can give Daddy, mummy, gong gong, lao ma, etc...

We were both amused and contented when we heard him say tat.. haha ;)

Previous Post: Lunch Box

Lunch Box

Ganma Seokling visited Ace and bought him a lunch box from HK Disneyland because I told her that Ace had to go to school and had to bring his own food to school.

But instead of using the lunch box as a lunch box, Ace spent many happy hours using it to cook food for me and his daddy.. he would take some ribbons and tinker about the many layers of the lunch box and then serve it to us...

When Daddy was in the study room, Ace reminded us, "Don't close the door ah.. I cook ah... " so that he could come in and serve the food...

He was in a pretty good mood and cooked noodles, curry and some rice and veggie for us... we told him his food is very nice and he was really happy ;)

Previous Post: Heng My Son Is Very Guai

Heng My Son Is Very Guai

I am lucky my son is a very well behaved boy...

The other day, I caught a cold and was feeling really lousy... because Daddy had to go and play soccer that day, I was left home alone with Ace that day... I contemplated sending Ace over to my mum's place but remembered that now that he is in school, it is best that I have time to be with him whenever possible so that he doesn't feel that we are ignoring or abandoning him...

When we reached home that day, I told him that I was not feeling well. I had a cold and I am really too tired to play with him. I asked him if he could play himself and he said, "Ok!" And ran back to his room.

Other than bugging me twice, once to ask me to switch on the lights, another time to help him take out the boxes his toys were in.. he basically took out all his toys and entertained himself with some self invented games....

And then before I knew it, it was time for milk, story books and bed...

Phew... thank goodness my son is a well behaved little boy..

As for me, after a good rest, I am as good as new..

Previous Post: I am batman

I am batman

The other day, I let Ace wear his batman shirt to Shichida...

He ran to teacher Huiling and told her, "I am spiderman!" "You are batman lah, Ace..." I told him..

And then later in the day, Daddy came home with a present Yeye bought for Ace when he went to bangkok.. a set of batman pajamas! Ace loved it...

In the evening when we wanted to go out for dinner, Ace insisted that he wanted to wear that pajamas set but because it was very warm that day and the set of clothings is actually a set of long pants and long sleeved t shirt.. we tried to dissuade him...

In the end, after we took a photo of him in his get up, he happy liao so happily changed back into t-shirt and shorts ;) Phew...

Previous Post: Badminton