I Can Call You By Myself

The other day, I was out with my friends and Ace called me to ask me why I am not back yet because he wants to wait for me.. because I was meeting someone who was passing a present to Ace and he was so excited to see his present... I told him I would be home in an hour..

About half an hour later, my phone rang again... "Mummy, I called you by myself leh.." was the first thing he said.. and I told him he is a clever boy and he asked me when I am coming home again...

When I finally did get home, my mum told me that while she was busy, Ace came to her and asked her, "Popo, how to spell 'Mummy'?" And then made her spell out my phone number and he copied it nicely into a piece of paper and folded it to keep it..

When he wanted to call me, he just took it out and called according to the numbers... hahahaha..

Previous Post: Visit To The Peranakan Museum

Visit To The Peranakan Museum

The Lions Befrienders at Meiling took initiative to organize an outing for the more able senior citizens and we decided to bring them to the Peranakan Museum and after that, to Lion Edwin's Nasi Lemak Stall for lunch...

Because I think Ace would have been rather bored at home, I asked him if he wanted to go along as well with us and gave him Daddy's Lions vest so that he can 'represent daddy'.

He was happy to be there and enjoyed looking at all the displays.. and most importantly, i think the old folks were also happy to see him too...

Afterward, when we went to the nasi lemak stall, i bought a vegeterian kway tiao for him and ate all by himself without my help as I was busy taking pictures, cutting otah and serving the old folks...

Later, Lion Edwin brought his daughter to the stall and Ace had alot of fun playing with Baby Jade... she was so friendly and was ok when Ace shook and waved her hands and he was so excited he insisted tat he wanted to carry baby jade as well, so we let him carry her and took a photo:)

All in all, we had a good trip :)

Previous Post: I Become Adult!

I Become Adult!

I was walking along in Bedok Interchange with Ace and he excitedly told me that there is something special there...

He ran towards this signboard and I offered to help him take a picture...

I thought he liked it because of the bird or because he was fun but the first thing when he saw the photo I took for him is.. "Wah, I become adult already, mummy!"

And he was so happy to be and adult... hahahaha.. just wait till he grow up.. he might wish he were a kid again.. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA...


Previous Post: Since When Max Became My Cousin

Since When Max Became My Cousin

Ace: Wah, mummy, see! I want to buy this when I grow up...

Me: Why do you want to buy this..

Ace: I want to buy this for my lao po and give to her when I wedding.. because this is so piao liang....

Me: Huh, you only buy for your lao po? What about me?

Ace: Okie, I will buy alot alot for all the people who have lao po like gong gong ah, Daddy ah...

Me: Then what about me? I dun have any lao po wor...

Ace: I can buy for you also.. because you also got cousin..

Me: What cousin?

Ace: Neh, Daddy is your cousin mah..

Me: Orh.. you mean HUSBAND.. daddy is my HUSBAND.. not cousin....

Ace: Ya, I buy for you lor...

Me: Okie

Hahahahahaha...

Previous Post: Mummy Is Law

Mummy Is Law

The other day, Ace was very cute... Ah Yee and Net Net brought him out in the car and Ah Yee asked him, "What must you do when you go into the car, Ace?"

"Wear seat belt..."

And so Ah Yee told him he is right and that he is a clever boy. And then Ace asked her, "Ah Yee, why my mummy always never wear seat belt?"

"erm.. because your mummy never follow the law..."

"Ya, " Ace agreed... "My mummy is the law.... because she never wear seatbelt..."

Faintz..

At least he knows MUMMY IS LAW.. hahahaha

Previous Post: Do Sperms Have Eyes?

Do Sperms Have Eyes?

The other day, I was talking about pregnancy with Ace again... Ace asked me how come XX is pregnant but her tumny is so small. I told him it is because now the baby is like a tiny pea.. it is very very small.. so the tummy is not big. Only if the baby grows later, then the tummy will start to grow as the baby grows.

And then he started asking me a whole load of questions about the birds and bees again..

Ace: So how did the baby get into the tummy?

Me: When a man and woman make baby, the man's sperm will go into the woman's womb and try to find the egg. When they find each other, they will come together and become a baby.

Ace: So how the sperm find the egg?

Me: Erm.. he go inside and swim around and look around and see where is the egg lor..

Ace: So mummy, do sperms have EYES?


Me: ????!!! I dunno, Ace. You have to ask the sperm...


Anyway, when it comes to sex, i try to be as technical and as proper as possible. So I always use proper terms like sperm, egg, penis and vagina.. even though it is a little embarrassing for me to say such things...


Anyway, Ah Yee told me that the other day, while Ace was having a conversation with her, out of nowhere, he asked her, "Ah Yee, how do you say Penis in teochew?" (he has been trying to learn teochew and I have so far taught him to say "what are you talking about, how are you, have you eaten already" in teochew)

Ah Yee was shocked and told him she does not know and he said, "How come you don't know. You can speak teochew right?"


And Ah yee told him, "I don't know because when I talk to people, I don't use the world Penis in my conversation. So I don't know...


And Ace just accepted it as it is..


Previous Post: The Wolf Inside

The Wolf Inside

One night, I was having our usual late night conversation with Ace and I was suddenly inspired to share this story I heard from POV Master Trainer, Jeff Allen.

A Cherokee Legend (that is a Native American tribe)

An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. "A fight is going on inside me," he said to the boy.

"It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil - he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego." He continued, "The other is good - he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you - and inside every other person, too."

The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, "Which wolf will win?"

The old Cherokee simply replied, "The one you feed."

Initially, Ace found it difficult to understand this story and asked me how is it possible for us to have a wolf in our body because the wolf is so big. I explained to him that this is a figurative story... it doesn't mean there really is a wolf inside us. It just is like how I explained to him.. the power of choice...

If we choose to do good things.. we feed the good wolf.... if we choose to do bad things, we will feed the bad wolf... if we feed the good wolf more, the good wolf will win the fight and we will be a happy, good person...

And I think he understood it..

The next day, when my grandma poured a cup of water for him, he said, "Xie xie zhen popo" and I told him he is a very good boy and a very polite boy.. and so he told me, "Mummy, I am feeding the good wolf now because I want the good wolf to win.."

Hahahahahahahaha.. children are just so cute!

Previous Post: My Friends Say They Cannot Be My Friends If I Am Good Boy

My Friends Say They Cannot Be My Friends If I Am Good Boy

Here are some pictures I took from the Noticeboard in Ace's school.. that's them trying to decorate the indian lady they preparing to use to decorate the school for national day..

Anyway, Ace told me the other day that he does not have any friends and the reason? "My friends say they don't want to be my friends if I do not do naughty things... they don't want to be my friend if I am a good boy..."

Hahaha.. I expected myself to face this sort of issue when Ace reaches his teens but seems like this problem really came earlier than I expected.

The interesting thing is that when I asked him furthur, it seems that the people who do not want to be his friends are the people he is closest to like his best friends Kaylen and Dylan. And I was told that Kaylen is a very quiet boy and i have seen them and found them to be quite well behaved.. active... but nevertheless well behaved.. and also, when I see him interact with his friends, I do not think he has a problem making friends...

But still, I gave talked to him about the power of CHOICE. I told him that he is free to choose to be a good boy or a bad boy. Sometimes when he choose to do the best thing at the best time, he will be able to eventually get the understanding of his friends and they would also do the best thing with him do.. he would be able to 'influence" them and win them as friends...

I asked him which is better or more important to him.. having friends or doing the best thing at the best time... if he chose having friends and doing naughty or bad things, he will always know in his heart that he did not do the best thing and would feel guilt.. which will follow him and he will always feel bad about it... but if he chose to do the best thing... the best things would happen to him... and there is a chance, his friends will come back to him.. if not, he will always make new friends and attract new friends who like to do the best thing like him..

And then after a while, it seemed this is resolved and for the next two weeks, he started to talk about his friends and I asked him if he has many friends and he said, "Yes!" And when i asked him why he said he had no friends previously, he said, "Wo kai wan xiao de lah.. I bluff you one..."

So I told him that I ask this because I care about him and he cannot kai wan xiao about this because when I told Daddy, Daddy was really sad to hear he has got no friends because daddy was so worried for him..

And then 2 weeks later, he started telling me that nobody wants to be his friends again. "So what did you do?" "I cried.."

"And what happened? Did anyone come and help you?" "Ya, christine came and help me and be my friend.."

So I told him that it is during these times that we know who our true friends are... and I reminded him that one good turn deserves another. You see, Christine is a new addition to his class and when she first arrived, she was always crying and Ace would always say he doesn't want to be her friend.. we gave him a talk about the power of choice + the importance of empathy and helping other people and so, after that, Ace went back and chose to be her friend even when she cried...

I guess that is probably why she returned the favour..

Anyway, I also took this chance to explain to Ace that when people attack us or say things like "I don't want to be your friend", all they are really doing is that they are asking us for our help. And the best way we can help someone like that is to just send them love in our heart...

Well, I hope he remembers this very simple advice when he is told "I don't want to be your friend..." It is actually not easy to understand this easy advice and even more difficult to put it into practice.. even i have problem remembering to do that when I am faced with people like tat... (and my life karma is I meet alot of pple like tat)... I do hope Ace dun have to go through the pain i went through when I met with such friends...

Previous Post: Ace Grandpa

Ace Grandpa

The end result of having someone nag Ace all the time is also that I will get nagged at by my son...

The other day, I woke up feeling some sort of sprain in my neck and so my neck was not very mobile... Wanting to complain to someone, I complained to Ace that my neck "lao zhen" and now I cannot turn my neck quickly and neither can I turn my neck alot.

Instead of telling me what I poor thing I am and offering to kiss me or sending love (the end conclusion and attention I was seeking actually,) my son gave me a GOOD NAGGING...

"I already tell you go and sleep early lor, you always don't want to sleep and want to kan dian shi ji.. that is why will fa sheng zhe yang de shi..."

Bleah.... one mother and two grandmothers already very enough lor, Ace.. dun need one more naggy Ace Yeye in my life...

Previous Post: Ace Converts From Liverpool To Man U Fan

Ace Converts From Liverpool To Man U Fan

The other day, Ah Yee said to me, "You better ask Max to come back fast.. tell him that if he dun come back faster, then his son will be a Man U fan convert..."

You see, Max is a Liverpool fan and he supports Liverpool and any other team that plays against Man U. And since young, Ace has been "influenced" by his dad to say he love Liverpool...

But because Ah Yee and Net Net are man U supporters, they always ask him to support Man U too.. and because Ace is MR PR Man, he has managed to learn the art of telling daddy he loves Liverpool when he is in front of Daddy and telling Ah Yee and Net Net that he loves Man U when he is with them...

In the two years that Ah Yee and Net Net were in France, Max furthur input him on how good Liverpool is and slowly, Ace forgot about Man U and started to be a devoted Liverpool fan and if you asked him which football club is the best, he will for sure tell you it is Liverpool... and everytime he saw a soccer jersey with some sort of logo, he will say it is a Liverpool Jersey..

But leh, things started to change.. because with the tables turned, Max is now the one who is away and Ah Yee and Net Net are the ones who spend alot of time together with Ace.

So the other day, Ah Yee finally found a chance to "influence" Ace when Ace asked Net Net about the logo on his jersey.. They took the chance to explain to Ace that it is a Man U logo and not a liverpool logo....

And then Ah yee told Ace, "Don't support Liverpool lah..."

And Ace said, "But Liverpool is number one.. I love Liverpool.."

And Ah Yee explained to him that Liverpool is no longer number one and is no longer the champion... "Support Man U is better, Ace.. Man U is better than Liverpool.. even though Man U is not the champion, Man U is number 2... and Liverpool is only number 6 or 7... very lousy.."

And since Ace is 5 and understands that being in 2nd place is better than being in 6th place, he agreed readily...

Now if you ask Ace which soccer club he likes best, he will tell you "Man U.." and if you ask him for the reason, he will say, "Because Man U is number 2... and Liverpool is only number 6.."

Well, now that this is out, I know that there will be one other couple who will surely want to try their luck to convert Ace into a Chelsea fan.. hahahaha :)

PS: Clari asked me not to post this because she says Max will kill her. But well, she should have calculated her 'risks' when she told Ace that... HAHAHAHA..

PPS: Conrad and Fanny, the t shirts and bribes dun work... it is how much time you spend together with Ace and understand him and his logic tat works.. ahahahahah :)

PPPS: Ah Yee brought Ace to NTUC the other day and Ace wanted to wear his LIverpool hat.. Ah Yee asked him which team he supports and he said Man U... Ah Yee asked him why he support Man U and he said because man U is number one..

So Ah yee asked him why he is Man U fan and he still wear Liverpool hat.. he said, "Yeah, I love Man U but I also love to wear liverpool hat.."

Then he asked Ah Yee if she has Man U clothes... and Ah Yee said she and net net has got Man U jerseys. He asked how come he only got Liverpool jerseys and dun have Man U jerseys and Ah Yee said it is because he was a Liverpool fan and so they bought him Liverpool jerseys... "But I am a man U fan now.. can you buy Man U jersey for me?"

OOPS!

PPPS: Max specially called home to prep talk Ace into supporting Liverpool again. Ace did... for a about 3 seconds.. and after tat wanted to support Man U again because Man U had a higher placing than Liverpool.. So one day while we were alone, I asked Ace what he really thought... Ace told me that actually, he wants to support only the number one team because he likes being number one.. so leh, since it is very difficult to decide, he will support alot of soccer teams and he will support Chelsea, Liverpool and Man U... I think he really wants to support Chelsea (because they were the champions last year and his thinking is to support the champion team) but feels oblidged to be same as Daddy and Ah Yee and Net Net..

Previous Post: WHy You All Play The Lao Ya Lao Ya Game

WHy You All Play The Lao Ya Lao Ya Game

Ah Yee, Net Net, Daddy and me are all fans of bejewelled. Somehow, even when I think tat FB games are such times wasters and have already quit all other FB games I used to play, I am just UNABLE to quit playing bejewelled completely.

And it can be very addictive. You think it is just one minute but before you know it , you would have spent maybe the past 60 minutes on the game...

And sometimes, I am aware tat this addiction is taking away my time from Ace as well. The other day, while we were sleeping and talking, Ace heard the sounds of bejewelled from Ah Yee's computer and asked me, "Mummy, what is Ah Yee doing?"

"SHe is playing game lor.." I asnswered. And he asked me, "Why Ah yee like to play the lao yah lao ya game.. why you all like to play tat lao yah lao yah (lousy) game? When you all play that game, nobody play with me and I am all alone and no one play with me. When I have fever, also no one play with me.."

I told him I am so sorry and that he is very important to me and is much more important than the game and promised to play the game less and play with him more..

Hai... dio complain...

Previous Post: Operation Dubai

Operation Dubai

I never had a very good role model for this particular aspect of morals and ethics.. hahahahaa...

When I was young, my dad was often critical of my mother's cooking. And if my mother asked him why he was eating so much of it since he says it is such bad cooking, he would say, "It is because the chilli sauce is nice.."

And so, fast forward to 2o over years later and my dad is the one who cooks for the family, I think it is KARMA that he gets a picky grandson that he loves to bits who will complain this food is not nice, that food is not nice...

Ace is starting to be really picky about his food and is alway reliant on other people to feed him because there is always someone who is willing to feed him like Zeng Popo or Gonggong... After a week of being fed, he is requesting to be fed everyday. And he will throw a tantrum if say Gong Gong did not cook something that he want or did not cook anything that he likes to eat. So I had to rectify the problem by giving him a prep talk on appreciating when other people take effort to cook for you, instead of complaining why there is no food that you want to eat...

Alas, just a prep talk did not work.. a few days later, he was throwing a tantrum again.. so I asked him to go into the room because I want to talk to him...

"No, i don't want.. I know you want to scold me.." he said with his arms crossed and lips pursed. "I promise I will not scold you.." "Don't want, I know you want to ask me to mian bi si guo..." He said.. I told him promised him I am not going to do that and he finally walked into the room with me.. so I squat down, looked at him the eye and explained to him that gong gong has to spend alot of time to cut, clean and cook the food we eat.. and after that have to clean the pots and pans.. so he spend alot of time just so we have dinner to eat.. it is rude to complain and we should be more appreciative and i asked him how he would feel if he spent alot of time and effort to cook and I cried and complain there is nothing I want to eat... And he finally apologized to Gong Gong and ate quietly...

Anyway, because of his reluctance to feed himself, I came up with this GREAT idea called OPERATION DUBAI... I told Ace that because we want to visit Daddy in November and december.. and we might be going for a tour, Ace will have to learn a few things if he wants to come along as well..

I explained to Ace that we will be visiting Dubai so that we can visit and stay with Daddy and we might be even going on a family trip but when we are travelling overseas, it might not be easy to find vegeterian food, so leh, Ace has to learn to eat everything that we eat.. learn not to be picky.. and he has to learn to eat fast and do thing fast.. and he has also to learn to be independent and do things like sleep by himself, etc. He has to learn to do the best thing at the best time and not to throw tantrums or do naughty things...

And because we have to do alot of walking if we go on a tour, I told him he also has to practice walking alot.

So we have to remind him to start practising all these things.. starting from now for the trip... and when i told Ace that there is going to be alot of spicy food in Dubai, he agreed to even start learning to eat chilli! hahahaha..

Ah Yee even came up with a new slogan to remind Ace...
"Good boy, DUBAI... Bad Boy, BYE BYE (because mummy will go dubai alone and say bye bye to him).

Anyway, Operation Dubai has made my life MUCH MUCH simpler and it has given me good excuse to get my grandmother to stop feeding Ace and stop giving in to his tantrums. Ace also stopped having so much tantrums and is now willing ot eat by himself quickly:)

Go, go, go! Operation Dubai, Go!

PS: Operation Dubai is so useful. Ace started going to school on a school bus and when he complains he has no friends, I explain it is for him to practise making new friends cos when we go dubai, all our old friends in Singapore and we will need to make new friends.... and so he did:) haaha

Previous Post: I Don't Like To Stay In Popo House

I Don't Like To Stay In Popo House

Lately, I have been noticing that Ace has been more and more whiny and wanting to do alot more things his own way.

For example, he is taking longer and longer to wake up and get ready to go to school. So we were discussing about why this is the case as Ace is very fast when he is in Yeye house and very fast when he is at home.

So why does he dilly dally when he is in Popo house?

I discovered it had to do with the way we woke him up. According to Daddy, he doesnt really wake Ace all the way at home. When Ace is semi awake, he will carry him to the kitchen and he will automatically wake when he is standing up on the floor and start to brush his teeth. I also remembered NaiNai telling me that she will carry Ace to the toilet, let him look at the mirror and he will giggle and he will wake and start to brush his teeth... so I changed tactic and wake Ace with my kisses and then once he is kind of awake, I will carry him and bring him into the toilet and he will start to brush his teeth..

The other day, Ah Yee asked Ace why he was so fast at home but always so slow when he is in Popo house and Ace said, "Because I don't like to stay in popo house... " When Ah Yee asked him why, he said, "Because it is so squeezy, there are so many people in the house..." Hahaha.. (oops, he must have heard Ah yee talking because those were the exact same words she said when she initially came to stay in Popo's house after her return from France.)

Anyway, now I have a new method to overcome all this slack.. HAHAHA.. it is called OPERATION DUBAI :) Tell you more in another post...

Previous Post: The Love Of Great Grand Parents

The Love Of Great Grand Parents

I just had an interesting discussion with my sister the other day. Just how do we discipline our children when our parents or grandparents are around?

It started off with my sister telling me about how she marvels at how Ace is able to take the constant nagging from Zeng Popo. You see, since Zeng Popo stopped working and is staying at home, she has been very very free.. since she fell and broke her hip bone, there is limited housework she can do and she will be so bored, she will actually hang clothes to dry, bring them in, take down those that are dry and hang the rest out again one more time to dry instead of waiting for all to dry before bringing them all in together...

Maybe she is really too bored.. so her attention is all on Ace Chua... If he climbed on the sofa, she would nag him to come down, if he ran, she would nag him to stop, if he walked, she would nag him to wash his feet... etc...

In my sister's words, no matter what Ace did, he would get nagged at... "If I were him, I would go crazy.. seems like everything I do is not right like that... I think that is why Ace is more rebellious now.. because since everything you do... no matter how you do it, you get nagged at, you might as well anyhow do..."

That being said, Zeng Popo also explains to Ace the reason behind the nagging one. For example, if she asks himt come down from jumping up and down on the sofa, she will explain to him it is because she is afraid he will hurt himself.

It is little wonder Ace once asked me, "Mummy, why does Zeng Popo always scold me?" So i had t o explain to him that she was trying to show her concern for him because she was afraid he will do the wrong things or that he would be hurt.

The irony of it is that if I ignore him and let him do his own thing, she will nag him.. BUT if I scold him or nag at him, she will tell me, "Ok lah, dun scold him lah, ace is a good boy lah..."

Sometimes also, her nagging will get on my ears and because i cannot ask her to stop, I can only scold Ace and ask him to keep still (so that he doesnt get nagged at and my ears will get some peace) and when that happens, Zeng Popo will pat me and say, "NEvermind lah.. it's ok lah.. don't get angry at him lah.. he is a good boy lah.." which makes me even angrier.. because I scolded at him because she started it FIRST. GRRRRRR...

If i ask Ace to do some things and ask him to do certain things like feeding himself. Halfway, I will see her feeding him and I will tell Ace he cannot get his promised reward because Zeng Popo is feeding him and she will say, "No lah, not his fault, I wanted to feed him.."

And leh, not only Zeng Popo is like tat.. gong gong is alot of time like tat too..

So just how do you discipline your kid when your parents and grandparents are around is really an art...

I can't complain about them. I can't scold them and sometimes I cannot stop them..

Thank goodness my father and grandma are easy going people.. so sometimes I let it pass and then a few days later, when we are alone and I am in a peaceful mood, I will explain to them how that put me in a spot and why I wanted Ace to do that and why if they interfered, i cannot achieve the goal that i wanted and why I had set that goal for Ace...

And they will tend to watch it a little...

But leh, few days later, they will forget and start to love their grandson too much again.. HAHAHAHAHA...

Maybe the best strategy is to give birth to one more to take their attention off Ace a little.. HAHAHA...

As for the non stop nagging...there is really no way to stop it.. i can only grin and bear with it and remind myself it is just my grandma's way of expressing her love and reminding myself to appreciate it...

PS: My mother is super duper brave lor.. one day when she was alone with zeng popo, she told zeng popo not to nag at ace and explained tat it might have adverse effect on her darling great grandson.. and Zeng Popo got angry... face very black for a whole day BUT she did stop nagging FOR ONE DAY.. and after tat.. she is back with a vengeance.. even to the effect of purposely irritating Ace. Hai....

Previous Post: I Don't Want To Stay In PoPo House Anymore

I Don't Want To Stay In PoPo House Anymore

Today, while I was reading the newspapers, my grandmother came and told me, "Your son throwing a tantrum in the room ah.. You better go and take a look..."

So I went into the room and there he was, lying on bed with his lips pursed, still in his pyjamas even though he is supposed to have gone into the room to change into his uniform some 2 minutes ago.

"What is it, Ace?" And then he turned around and mumbled and grumbled. So I asked him to stop talking and then I hugged him and sent him love for about 10 seconds or so and then I told him, "Ok, now you can tell me what happened..."

"I dun want to stay in popo house anymore, mummy.. I want to go home..." he said. When I asked him why, he said, "Because popo always scold me.."

I asked him if he meant Popo or Zhen Popo cos the last person that seemed to have spoken to him is my grandmother. He insisted that it is Popo and so I asked him what happened and it seemed that my mother pushed him when he was walking in front of her. I figured he must have been walking in front of her when she was chanting and explained to him that it is rude to walk in front of popo when she is talking and chanting to the gohonzon... that is why popo probably pushed him to ask him not to walk in front of her because it is rude to do that.

"But I don't like pushing.." and he continued to purse his lips...

So I went out and asked my mum what happened and my mum said he walked through in front of her and so she hit him in his bum and asked him to go away.

So I went back into the room and told Ace that he has to apologize to Popo for walking in front of her when she is chanting because it is a rude thing to do. So I held his hand and walked with him to the living room and told him to say sorry...

And after he said sorry, my mum explained to him, "When you do the wrong things, Popo has to correct you. Did you watch the tv advertisement? The little boy did wrong things and threw paper on the floor and his parents did not correct him so when he grew up, he continued to do the same wrong things and what happened to him in the end? He was caught by the police and had to sweep the floor... do you want to be like him?"

And Ace shook his head...

And then Popo hugged him.

"Okie, Popo also say sorry for pushing Ace because Ace is very hurt by that..." and so Popo also said she is sorry and they are good friends again ;) hahaha

But Ace still keeps asking me if he can go home and stay.. I figure he probably misses his toys at home because we are all getting tired of the toys in popo's house already ;) I told him we can go home and stay for a few days when I have cleaned up our house a bit:) hahaha..

PS: That day due to HFMD, Ace could not go to school so I brought him home... he initially promised me to help me clean the room and change the bedsheets before he started playing and once he stepped inside the house, he cannot help but start making the whole house messy cos he digged out all his different toys and everytime he found something, he was so happy.. just like he found something new he hasn't seen before like that.. hahaha

Previous Post: Angry At The Bus Driver!

Angry At The Bus Driver!

The other day.. I was sending Ace to school and something very irrtating happened...

Cannot be bothered to recap the details again and here how things happened as per my complaint letter....

-------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Sir

I am very disappointed with the level of service shown by your bus captain.

This morning, I was trying to send my 5 year old son to school and we boarded the bus service 222 at the bus stop outside of Blk 180 along Bedok North Road at around 9.40am in the morning.

As my son is old enough to tap his card, I asked him to get his ezylink card ready, let him tap his card first and made sure I heard the beep before I tapped my own card. I was also careful to make sure that I heard a beep sound and I only moved on when I heard a beep sound and saw the screen come up with details about how much there is left in my ezylink card…

Because of safety concerns, I decided it might be easiest and best for us to seat near the exit door and so we walked all the way in and set right behind the exit doors.

Strangely, for some unknown reason, the bus driver did not move the bus and drive forward even though all passengers have already gone on the bus. I thought he might have been waiting for someone but after waiting for sometime, he still did not move the bus. I looked up and noticed he was gestulating and he was talking… and I can see his face in the mirror.

“Are you talking to me?” I asked him.. and he continued to gestulate a rectangle and saying something about the card and I sort of made out that he was saying that I did not tap my card. “I already tapped..” I told him as I was sure that I already heard the beep and saw the words “NEW FARE” come up the machine

But the bus captain was not pacified and gestulated me to go over to his side.

I walked to him and he told me that I had to tap my card again. I asked him why I had to tap my card twice and he said I did not tap my card… “But I already tapped my card what…” and at this point he made an accusation and said that I had used my son’s ezylink card to tap instead of using my own card and insisted that I tap again…
Thinking that I could prove that I had already tapped the card if I tapped again and it said something like end of the trip or something, I did.. but was surprised to find that it said, “NEW FARE” again… “Now it is right already…” he said and he drove off.
When I walked back to my seat, I was burning because the whole bus was looking at me and thinking I am using my son’s ezylink card on purpose now because of his accusations..

I was really furious because the bus driver had caused me to lose my dignity and my face in front of the public and in front of my son by making ACCUSATIONS aloud that I did not tap the card.

So after I sent my son to school, I went to the MRT station to check my past transactions my ezylink card and I found that the bus driver did not only made me lose face in public and in front of my son but also made me tap twice and PAID MY FARE TWICE. As there is no way to print out the transaction record, I used my handphone and took a picture of it. (Should you need this piece of evidence, I can email to you)

Why is your bus driver penalizing me when he is at fault? There are two machines and how can he be so sure who did or did not tap the card? If he cannot see who tapped and who did not, how can he rely just on his ears and just guesswork and make accusations like that? Even in court, a person is considered NOT GUILTY until proven otherwise.

My sister who was with me on the trip said she has seen quite a few bus drivers shout loudly at people, “Eh, you never pay money” when their card did not pass through. While the job of a bus captain may be tough work and I do agree they will also meet annoying people who are trying to take a free bus ride, how they handle the case makes a difference to how the INNOCENT people feel when they have genuinely missed the card beeping.
With the bus fares increasing (out of 10 people that I asked, all 10 said their fares increased.. so please don’t tell me 75% of the people are paying lesser fares like the government), I would expect also an increase in the service quality of your bus captains. They are called Bus CAPTAINS and not just BUS DRIVERS for a reason, right?
I am sure this is a common scenario and am shocked that your bus drivers are never taught how to handle this (the bus caption involved is old and I presumed he has been bus driver for many years) sort of situation discreetly and POLITELY.

And also, if the bus driver gets the passenger to tap again at the ezylink machine, why would be that when I tapped the card again about a minute later.. it did not signal either end of the trip OR that the card has already been tapped… but it just said “NEW FARE” and deducted money AGAIN from my card? If the machine had done either of the things I mentioned aboved, I wouldn’t have been blamed or been made to look like I am some cheapo. And I guess the bus driver might have been able to apologize to me on the stop.

Also, I would have been ready to forgive an old person for his mistake because they might not hear or see so well had he been humble or nice and said something nice like “I think your card did not go through just now..” I might not even have bothered to check my last transactions in that case.. and would have let it pass… But I am very upset that he told the whole bus that I was using my son’s ezylink card. How would that make me look in front of my son?

Because of this, I find it very difficult to be forgiving and understanding in this instance and am so angry initially that I have good mind to go to my friends in the press and tell them my story. I am sure this is not a one off situation and story and it might probably start a debate on the service quality of bus captains in Singapore.

But in view of the fact that it might have been an honest mistake of a bus driver who is not well trained enough in the area of customer’s service and in view of his age, I have decided to just feedback to you in hope that you will improve the service level of your bus captains further.

Also, I would like to ask to be compensated for the extra that I paid and in addition, I would also like an apology from the bus driver. I do not think that is too much to ask for considering I also teach my 5 year old to say he is sorry whenever he makes a mistake.

----------------------------------------------------------------

I wrote this letter on 19th July and till now, I have not recieved my apology :S SBS sucks.. a week later after i wrote the letter, i read TNP and realized that there are alot of people who are complaining about having been in the same situation as me too...

Anyway, after I walked back from the bus driver, I told Ae that I am really very angry at the bus driver for saying that I did something even though I did not do it and i also told Ace I am going to complain the bus driver and ask for an apology from him.

Every now and then in the journey, my son would ask me, "Are you still angry, mummy? Are you still angry at the bus driver?"

And when after some time, he realized I was still angry, he started to try to be funny by asking me, "Are you still angry? Are you still angry? Are you still angry? Are you still angry?" while he tried to make funny face to make me happy..

SO I told him I am much better already and he smiled sweetly at me and told me, "Ok.. I like to be funny.. because I like to make people happy.." Hmm... tat sounds like the role of a charmer.. oops..

Previous Post: I Love You Even When You Are Far Away

I Love You Even When You Are Far Away

Today Ace woke up in a good mood lor.. he very funny.. he was eating donut for breakfast and he insisted it is too much for him.. and too big for him.. so gong gong cut for him and then he kept asking me... "Mummy, have you brushed your teeth?" I said no.. and then he ask me to quickly brush my teeth and he will keep some for me.. "Ok, i go brush teeth now, you keep one for me lor.." i told him..

"YOu go brush your teeth, i keep three for you.." and he really kept 3 pieces for me...

And then he was eating and he kept smiling at me and then suddenly he told me, "Mummy, I love you... " paused for a while and said,"Even if you go far far away place in aeroplane, I will still love you..."

And then he asked me when i am going.. if daddy will be back when I am gone, how long I will be gone and reminded me that even though i am far away, he will still love me... so sweet right?:)

Previous Post: Gothic Fiona!

Gothic Fiona!

Zhenyin Jie Jie bought Happy meal and got a FIONA toy and she also got another FIONA Figurine from her cornflakes and so she gave them both to Ace.

The other day, Ace said he wanted to paint the Fiona Figurine and so we painted the Fiona together with reference from the Fiona Toy from the Happy Meal...

And after I was done, I kept everything... Alas, Ace noticed that Fiona the toy has got her eyes LINED and so he gave popo a pen and asked her to help him draw the eyes... I think Popo has never used eye liner in her life lor...PLUS Ace gave her a pen with a rather wide point..

The end result is a GOTHIC looking FIONA with MOD make up.. HAHAHAHAHAHA... I think she looks more like frankenstein's bride!


Previous Post: Ace Has Fallen Sick

Ace Has Fallen Sick

Well, Ace has fallen sick these few days..

It started off with him going off to sleep very early on a friday evening and then by Saturday, he was getting all feverish. But this little boy was still jumping here and there and in the mood to play with me... the only thing was that some parts of him are on and off feeling quite warm and he complains that his throat is painful when he swallows food...

In the afternoon, my mum came home and said that she bought those fever stick it ons for Ace and Ace insisted that he wanted to use it. By 8pm, he requested to paste the fever paste and sleep.. I said he can do so later...

So he hang around somemore.. and I tried to persuade him to sleep after taking an NMA... I knew that woud probably cure his inflammation in the throat but because he was whiny and all tat, I figured it was easier to just waste ONE piece of the fever paste and save myself alot of trouble because he promised to sleep by himself and sleep immediately and also happily ate the NMA I gave him by chewing as instructed...

Anyway, by Sunday morning, he was feeling lazy all over and I was rather surprised that he complained still that he was tired and continued to sleep till 12 noon before he was willing to wake... I was puzzled as to why he was still tired as i predicted he should have recovered by sunday.

Anyway, I asked him if he was still painful for him to swallow food and he said no.. so i made him take a bath and soon enough, he was happy and jumping around all over the place again ;)

Ah Yee thought it might have been due to the fact that when they brought him to smalleland that day, he was playing till he was sweating all over but he did not have any clothes to change and they still continued to shop around in giant and eat in the foodcourt there....

I think he just ate too much accumulated rubbish.. anyway, he looked like he lost weight after this round of sore throat and his tummy became really flat but leh, right after he recovered, he is back to becoming a eating machine again.. hahahahaah ;)

Previous Post: Gossipy Ace

Gossipy Ace

Yday I had a quarrel with my mummy... she stood right in front of the fan.. tat was pointed at my direction and farted...I exclaimed"Wah lau eh, where got pple like tat one?" And then Ace asked me why I shout so loud at Popo and before I could even say anything, she said "Because your mummy want to show you bad example... because she scold popo, so you also can scold her..."

I so angry.. I told her, "You want to teach your grandson like that right? Call yourself a teacher? very good, I will remember wat you say today...." and then she quickly change her tune and said, "Can talk loudly to your mummy or not? cannot right?"

And after tat I dun want to talk to her at all and she know she is wrong and try to be super nice to me...so i just forgive her after i got angry for the full 7 min i was allowed to.. hahahahahaha

Anyway, Ace is super duper funny lor.. after being stuck in all the drama... he did the most aunty thing! he went to tell my father in some sort of gossipy tone, "Gong gong.. I want to tell you something... did you know.. just now Mummy scolded popo... because popo fang pi in front of the feng shan...."

PENGZ lor!

Previous Post: Policeman Ace