Of Tyrants And Spoilt Brats

I was advised by a very good fren of mine who has very good parenting results to watch The Dog Whisperer to learn how to be a good parent ;)

During my 12 day workshop in Macau, Lency, our trainer (that very good friend).. who has two children in her early twenties was requested to share some parenting tips. She did and it was a really valuable insight into parenting for me :) (I presume she really knows wat she is talking about as her children love to hang out with her and their family seems like a truly bonded happy family .. one of the rare few ones I have seen in my life:) I told Max I would love to grow old and be just like them!)

During her sharing, Lency, also talked about how it is important for parents to have a horizontal relationship with our children. Meaning that we treat our children like our friends. (Click on the link to read about my sharing about becoming The Perfect Parent)

However, as our kids have much lesser life experience than we do, we as parents should step up into the leadership position and lead them. When parents hide and fail to step up into the leadership position, their children have no choice but to step in and become the Alpha Male or the Alpha Female in the family.

As our children do not have the maturity, hell beholds the family who revolve their family around the child. Very often, when put in that position, the children feel frightened and insecure as well.. that is why they will act out and throw tantrums. All they ever think about is themselves and their feelings. They slowly act out the role of a tyrant and become a spoilt brat.

Lency says that it is possible for the same thing to happen to families with dogs too.. so she suggested tat we watch the show, The Dog Whisperer. It is some reality tv series where this person who understands dogs well will go to families who have children like that. Apparently, when the dog whisperer arrives at the family, the dogs will start to bark.. and once he says, "Shh".. the dog suddenly becomes really happy and calm as if "ooh, finally! Here comes the Alpha male and I can follow his lead!" (I think you can find episodes of this show on youtube)

And during the workshop, Lency demonstrated beautifully how to do it when one of the participants went off centre and started behaving like a tyrant. I think the crux of it is tat we as parents have to be in our centres. When we see our children doing something that is off centre or out of integrity, it is ok to tell them like a good friend should.

Instead of criticizing them, nagging at them, we could explain to them how they are off centre and encourage them to make the right decision. We just need to TRUST them and they often know what to do and how to do it... given time and love, nothing cannot be corrected :) Because everytime we criticize them or scold or nag them, we create a distance between ourselves and them. By the time our children are in their teens, the distance can sometimes become so big tat rebellious children just run away from their parents and seek refuge with their friends completely.

Anyway, like wat Jeff said, no matter how we try, we cannot be perfect parents.. we will always make some mistakes along the way.. so a good way to overcome tat and "regain lost ground" to make up for the mistakes in the day is to take a good 20 min everyday to JOIN your kid. Look at them in their eyes and be willing to join them and understand them... hug them and send them love... That way, we will always be bonded closely to them.

When they are upset, do also provide them with "the mother's lap" (i meant it figuratively.. daddies can offer tat as well) for them to bawl out and let out their emotions and just love them.. it would be so helpful for them and they will be very emotionally mature kids:)

I think it is good advice right.. dun you think?

PS: That's a photo of me with Lency and Chuck, while I am graduating from my 100 Day Psychology of Vision Programme :)

Previous Post: I Love You!

I Love You!

I just came home after spending 12 days in Macau...

And it was really nice to come home to a very welcoming Ace ;)

My flight reached at around 6.30am in the morning and I reached home at around 7 plus.. Talked to my mum a little and went in to the bedroom to kiss my little prince... he was still sleeping soundly..

Anyway, talked to my mum somemore and then at around 8, I went into the room to sleep.. my mum continued to talk to me while I was in the room and I guess it woke Ace up.. the moment Ace realized I was in the room, he woke and crawled over to me and kissed me all over my face and lay down in my arms...

And then he asked me if I could send him to the bus stop to wait for his school bus today and I agreed. But I told him i was very tired and needed to rest first.. so he happily went to brush his teeth, eat his breakfast and change into his uniform before waking me again to send him to the bus stop...

And then later in the evening, even though I was still feeling tired... I went to pick him up.. and he was so happy because he wanted to know what present I bought him :) I told him it is a secret but it starts with the letter B...

He was trying to make a guess "Bumblebee? Barney? Aiyah.. I dunno.."

So I asked if he prefered me to tell him or prefered to get a surprise...

I think he was really happy to find the Bey Blade set tat I bought him.. it was something he wanted me to buy him but i always tot is very BOH LIAO and to expensive for a spinning top ;) Hahahaha.. but leh, I find now tat I actually enjoy playing the bey blade with him :) hahahaha..

Anyway, in his happiness, while we were having dinner, he told me, "Mummy.. I love you! I love you soooooooooooooooooooooooooo much... I love you very very very very very very very much...... I love you very very very very very very very very very much... "

And then he hugged me and told me.. "I love you.. I love your bei, I love your eyes, your hands, I love your heart.. I love your everything!"

I laughed out loud when he said tat lor.. "Wah, you are so good with words now ah.." I told him..

"Ya, you know where I learnt it from?" He asked me...so I asked him where did he learn it from..

"Aiyah.. you better not know.." he said.. but after pausing for a while, he said, "Ok lah.. tell you... when you were away, I watched the Ai Yah Yah show... and learn from tv..."

I hugged him and told him I love him very much too :)

And then we continued our dinner and Ace said, "Can you hug Ah Yee when she comes back? You all are xiong mei, must hug each other..." I told him we are jie mei.. not xiong mei. and he laughed cheekily and declared that ah yee and me are xiong di :)

Then Ace suddenly asked me if I could give birth to another baby boy so tat he also can be xiong di with his brother... I told him tat I couldnt do so now cos daddy is so far away.. "Then can you make the baby with me?"

"Sorry Ace, I married daddy so I only can make baby with Daddy."

"Okie, then you quickly make with daddy okay?" he said..

Previous Post: The Ant Will Bite You

The Ant Will Bite You

Ace has a new friend called Matt Matt.

He is the little boy who also takes the same school bus as Ace and we wait for the bus at the same pick up point. Matt Matt is philipino and because of his height and the way he speaks (he always speaks in third person and refers to himself as Matt Matt and he says things like "Boy spinning, why boy spinning?" (when Ace was spinning himself)) I always thought he is like 3 years old or something.

I just found out that Matt Matt is already 4. But anyway, because he is younger than Ace, he always wants to follow Ace. If Ace dances, he dances and screams, "Ace dance, Matt Matt dance!" while giggling away. If Ace is running, Matt Matt would be running. If Ace jumps, tat is what Matt Matt would do as well.

As a result, I had to remind Ace not to run too far, not to do this or that "because Matt Matt might follow blindly and hurt himself.."

Anyway, tat's a pic of Matt Matt copying Ace's dance.. looks synchronized huh?! ;)

One day, Matt Matt wanted to lie on the bench and there were many ants there. The helper couldnt stop Matt Matt and so I told him, "That it is very dangerous to lie on the bench. See, Ace is not lying down... right? Ace?"

And I waited to see wat Ace gor gor will say or do.

Ace outdid himself... he not only asked Matt Matt to stop, he explained to him why he should stop..."See, there are ants here.. if you lie here, the ants will climb up to your body... and the ants will bite you... very dangerous..."

And now, Matt Matt refuses to go on the bus unless Ace holds his hand.. hahahaha... I guess Ace should enjoy being gor gor to a little brother :) I can see what sort of brother he will become when he has a sibling..

PS: I am also very proud of myself. I like to think he performed so well because that is how we communicate with him as well. :D :D

Previous Post: We Can Fly!

We Can Fly!

We managed to rent out our car and I am really happy because if not, it is a $1000/mth school bus for Ace.

Anyway, now that Ace we rented out the car, Ace takes a school bus to school.

The other day, I had to bring him to the pick up point and when we stepped out from the lift, a very heavy gust of wind blew towards us and the trees started swaying and leaves were flying all around...

"Wow! Mummy! We can fly!" exclaimed Ace and I replied. "Yes, let's fly!" And we "flew" to the pick up point.

Because the wind was so big and because there were so many leaves flying around us, it really felt like we were flying and it was a really liberating experience. Never felt so free and happy in a long while... I think Ace enjoyed himself too.. even though lenght of flight time was only about 20 seconds.

Afterward, he would always look forward to flying again. Whenver he steps out of the leave, he would comment with disappointment that "Today is not a flying day.. today is only a walking and running and jumping day.."

Thanks, Ace! If you didn't suggested flying, I wouldnt have had such a wonderful experience!

PS: While we were doing a long walk together the other day, we felt some wind and "flew" together again... alas, not as shiok as the other time when the gust of wind was really strong...

Previous Post: Will You Feed Me When I Am Old?

Will You Feed Me When I Am Old?

Recently, there is an advertisement in Singapore that touched many hearts.

It is a short film by Royston Tan (who made the movie 881) about dementia called Ah Gong. It is somewhat touching short film about how a grandson is trying to help his grandfather remember his past while feeding him.



Anyway, while we were watching TV, this ad came up and so my mother asked Ace, "When I grow old and get dementia, will you also feed me?"

"I will feed mummy..."

"But what about me?" Popo continued to ask..

"I will feed mummy..." Ace insisted. So I asked him why he only feeds me and not Popo and he finally explained his reason.. "I don't have so many hands what.. I only have one pair of hands.."

"But Popo also love you so much and do so many things for you and feed you when you are young what.." I reminded him..

"Ok lah.." Ace decided.. "I will turn into transformer and have 4 hands so that I can feed both of you.."

"Then what about the rest of the people in the family?"

"Ok, then I transform to have 10 hands.."

"Is it enough or not?" I asked him and I held up 10 fingers and counted which hand feeds who and realized that 10 fingers later, he only managed to feed me, daddy, popo, gong gong, zhen popo, lao ma, ah yee, net net, lao kou..so Ace realized he doesnt have enough hands still..

"Ok lah, I transform to 100 hands then!" And satisfied that it seem to solve the problem, we moved on to another topic...

PS:
Anyway, I loved the short film but felt that the tagline about how patients with dementia are still the same inside is rather misleading. Yes, they might be the same person with the same memory but the really show a very different side of themselves now that they have no defensive mode and no self constraint.

If a person keeps thinking tat the patient with dementia is merely forgetful but still the same, he will be in for a darn rude shock.

My own grandma is suffering from dementia. Initially she just was very forgetful about dates... she would repeat the same question every 5 min (and coming up with a diff answer or the same answer 10000 times a day is not easy.. especially if she is asking a question tat is particularly uncomfortable for you like "Why don't you have one more kid?") She would often forget current events but relieve events of the past again and again. Initially, her lack of restrain allowed me to find out many things about the past... she opened up and told me many things tat even my dad does not know...

As time went along, it got more and more difficult. She was always hungry and started "stealing food" even though we had no problem with her eating openly. She also starts to "steal" and hoard tissue paper and when we are not looking, she will tear out lots of tissue, fold and put it into the waistband of her trousers. If you catch her in the act and ask her about it, she gets angry and insists that she only took one piece to clean her mouth and make a big show out of FOLDING the tissue and CLEANING her mouth with it.



She goes into a bad mood for no reason and insists on going home.. she starts to hate my other grandma and would often almost turn violent or use vulgar language to scold her.... WHile she used to have a good sense of humour and would laugh at my feeble jokes, she now is indifferent most of the time to what I say to her. She goes into violent bursts of temper and the very gentle, loving smiling face that I am so used to seeing appears less and less and her violence, her anger and aggressiveness show up more and more often...

I tried to organize a family gathering so tat my cousins would visit her. She was happy that night we came to her house. The next day, she clean forgot about it. Her sudden dislike for my other grandma and a abrupt change of mood where she suddenly refuses to come over or suddenly wants to go home is a source of such immense stress for my mother that she actually finds herself preferring to work 1hr away from home and reach home at 8pm everyday even though as a infant educarer, she has like MANY CHOICES just within walking distance.

Yes, they are not the same person inside but you can be sure you will see a different side of them when they have dementia. Dun expect to stay the same or be the same. I think the point is.. even if they show their less pleasant side to you..or even if they are unable to express their feelings as well with dementia or they are unable to remember you or the things they do together with you or the things that matter to you.. it shouldnt make you love them any less and it doesnt mean tat their love for you is any less. So I think a better tagline should be "Dementia doesnt forget LOVE" or something like tat...

Previous Post: Indian Song

Indian Song

It is now the time of the year again..

It is the time of the year where my son will dance everyday for a few hours in school everyday because their school concert will be due soon in November..

So I am very curious as to what he will be performing this year.. and so I asked him. Apparently, he will be in a chinese skit and his script goes something like, "太好了，那么我就可以吃我最爱吃的汉堡包和薯条了！“(Haha.. so him to announce that he likes food.. the role must have been made for him)

And then he is also performing in an English Skit and his script goes something like "And Belle saw her father, Maurice, working on one of his inventions.." (Yes, they are performing Beauty and the Beast)

And then he told me that he is also dancing... "So what is the music for your dance like?"

And he said, "I don't know, it is an indian song.."

And then he started humming THIS song:



HAHA! Indian song?!

I really look forward to his performance:)

PS: Ace just told me that his english line has been changed to "As Morris rides into the forrest, the path gets darker.. All of a sudden, he hears a howl..." I thought.. wah, LONGER LEH.. and wondered if it is because he did better. And then after asking him for more details, I realized that it is because he called pronounce "Belle" properly.. hahaha.. but he is happy cos he says he is MC ( think he means narrator).. I went through with him and asked him to change his intonation and pause here and there. Initially he was not very keen to listen to me until I told him tat "Mummy is story telling champion.. Number one in story telling when I was in school.." And then he started to listen and follow :)


Previous Post: Prince Of The Day

Prince Of The Day

As they say, Like Mother, Like Son :) Ace, son of Most Beautiful Mum-to-be 2005... is 5 years later crowned Prince of the Day :) Hahahaha..

But unlike his mummy who won $1K worth of OSIM vouchers, tonnes of toiletries, some baby stuff and a free hospital stay at Gleneagles while giving birth to Ace, Ace merely won a box of Ferrer Roche chocolates:)

Well, it so happened that Ah Yee's office had some sort of Children's Day special where parents are allowed to bring their children to their workplace and they have all sorts of activities planned for them..

Even though Ace also had some sort of children's day party in his school, I thought it might be more interesting for him to go to Ah Yee's office..

So early in the morning, he woke up at 6 plus, had breakfast with Ah Yee at Mac Donalds and they made their way there...

And it was a day of joy and fun lah.. early morning they had art and craft where they were given some craft to do.. after a while, he ran out and told Ah Yee he is very bored... so Ah Yee was wondering why he finished his craft was done so quickly.. and found out tat he chose a rabbit picture and his picture was mostly WHITE:) hahahaha...

Anyway, after tat, he had happy meal for lunch and in the afternoon, there was even some sort of parenting talk tat involves both parents and children and the speaker asked Ace a few questions and my son surprised Ah Yee by replying to all the questions asked but he gave all sorts of funnny answers,,

Q: What does your mummy do for you to show she loves you?
A: She gives me an apple..

Q: What about you? How do you show you love your mummy? For example, on Mothers' Day, did you do anything special for her?
A: Yeah, I buy present for her..
Q: What present did you buy for her?
A: Iphone and camera!

Q: So how else you show that you love your mummy and daddy?
A: I box them.. *giggles*

And then at the end of the talk, the speaker asked Ace, "Would you like to work in an office like this like your mummy and daddy in future?"

"No! I want to work in POLICE STATION!" Cried Ace aloud... cos apparently, when he was there, he introduced himself as Ace Chua Police Officer.. HAHAHA..

Anyway, afterward, Ace sat down for awhile to play monopoly with a few older children but they quit after a short while and started running up and down the corridor and playing hide and seek in the office..

According to Ah Yee, all the screaming from the children gave her a headache and one of her colleagues went home after half a day... so someone logged on to some games and let the children sit down and play with the computer for while...

And then my good son went to sit on the empty office chairs and cross his leg and announce to Ah Yee... "Ah Yee, look.. I am Lao Ban!"

And indeed, this police officer was very on the ball lor.. just so he won't get into mischieve, Ah Yee told him that he is not to run out of the door and that he cannot touch the things because her office has got alot of chemicals and there might be poison...

So whenever Ace sees someone touching things, he will say, "Don't touch! Got chemicals..."

If one of the children was misbehaving in the room, he would run out to the child's parent and report, "Your kid is spoiling the things in the room.."n

Anyway, at the end of the day, he was crowned Prince of the Day ;) I think it is probably due to his good looks.. I am not sure though who is the judge or wat is the judging criteria.. :) Anyway, alot of pple asked Ah Yee why her nephew look so much like her and when she said tat Ace is her son.. people who do not know her tat well actually replied, "can tell lah.. look so like you..."

Anyway, I think Ace was totally tired out.. by the time Ah Yee knocked off, Ace fell asleep on the bus back to Boon Lay and then spent the next hour and the half sleeping at Moss Burger before he could wake up and jump around and have dinner:)

Thanks to Ah Yee for taking such good care of Ace :)

Previous Post: Hungry, Healthy Ace

Hungry, Healthy Ace

Ace has always been a little hungry caterpillar...

He is perpetually hungry and always looking for something to eat.. But somehow, he will remember how he should be healthy and he will come to me and ask me if he can get something to eat..

"Can you choose for me, mummy.. because I will choose unhealthy food and I want to eat healthy...."

So leh, I will go to the fridge and take out a fruit.. (usually a green apple) and then pare it and plug it into a fork and let him eat..

And for 3 days, he was easily satisfied with green apples and prunes.. 4th day came and he started to want to eat something else other than apples and so he started to ask for biscuits and all that again...

Well, I am glad he had moments where he thinks and eats healthy:) I hope we can extend these moments and make them even longer and longer... :)

Previous Post: Poolside Dancer or F1 Champion?

Poolside Dancer or F1 Champion?

The other day, when I sent Ace to his swimming class, I noticed he was not swimming normally.

Usually, he would hold the boards by the side but that day, he clenched his hands into a fist and lay them on top of the board like he was holding on to something.. and when he was swimming, he was learning left and right instead of just going straight..

But I didn't think much of it..

That day, Ace was the only boy in class so his teacher swam together with the three girls (two of them were new) and let Ace swim by himself...

To my surprise, Ace was swimming really quickly and then suddenly, when he reached the edge of the pool, he climbed up and turned towards his friends and raised his hands into the air in a cheer that he was champion and then he started dancing till they finally reached the edge as well..

The next time they had to swim back, he did the same thing again. this time, I got ready my camera and took a photo of it.. hahahaha..

After he finished his lesson, Mr Loke asked Ace if he was a poolside dancer and Ace grinned with a cheeky smile..

I asked him why he did that and he solemnly announced that it is because "Today is a very special day... today is swimming racing car day and because I am the champion, I do a dance... cos I am the champion racing car..."

Hahahaha.. he was inspired by the F1 race he watched on tv the night before and was pretending to be a car racer! No wonder his fists were clenched cos he was holding on to the steering and no wonder he was swaying left and right.. HAHAHAHA...

Previous Post: The Cow Says...

The Cow Says...

My mum says that I really fully utilize my iphone 4. "You use it to call, sms, check your email, surf the internet, play games, read story books and even use it to teach your son new things... really worth it for you to buy this phone..

Well, I guess so :) I really love my iphone and my son loves it too ;) (Thanks, Max!)

Just for Ace, I downloaded many animated books, games, flashcards etc... And now, the iphone is the number one reason why he wants to finish his homework because he can play with the games after he finishes his homework...

Ace loves playing with the games and I noticed he enjoys things like memory games and he enjoys those animated story books... For a while, his favourite app was this cat that repeats everything you said called Talking Tom..

And then when I downloaded "The Cow Says..." that became his all time favourite app. The app is a picture of a cow that says whatever you type with an ang moh accent.. when Ace is asleep, me and Ah Yee would type things and make the cow scold hokkien vulgarities....because it amused us to no end to hear an ang moh scolding vulgarities... hahahaha..

Ace is tickled though when we make the cow say things like "Ace is Mr Or Pee Sai..." (because the other day, when Popo asked him who he is, he said he is Mr Officer and Popo thought he said, "Mr Or Pee Sai" hahahaha)

And he loves the cow so much that whenever he doesnt want to wake up, I would type things like "Wake up, wake up, don't be a lazy boy..." or "Wake up wake up, it is time to go to school.."

And then he will wake up immediately ;) Thank god for modern technology!

PS: When Ace Pees on the bed, we make the cow say, "Ace is a shee shee boy" and remind him to go toilet before he sleeps so that he will not pee in the bed and become a "shee shee boy"... That phrase came about when Ace mispronounced something and we thought he said, "Shee shee boy.."

Previous Post: Well Planned Ace

Well Planned Ace

If there is one thing that Ace inherited from Max, it is to always be well planned.

For me, I am a scatterbrain who always leaves the house only to come back again 2, 3 times in the same day to pick up my MRT card, my phone, my keys...

But my son is the total opposite!

When Max was due to be back for a holiday, he was already planning what to bring back to our own house and everything he packed was already well thought out in advance! When I asked him why he forgot to pack the handcuffs in because he wanted to bring back his policeman set, he told me, "I did not forget lah... I alraedy have handcuff in 422 mah.."

So amazing! :)

The other day, after helping Popo to make jelly for her Soka discussion meeting, Ace was very excited and said that he wanted to go with Popo to the meeting... and so he started to pack the things he wanted to bring. I looked into the bag and found two erasers, two pencils, a notebook, a ball and some other toys..

"Why do you need two pencils and two erasers?" I asked Ace.

"Because in case my pencil is spoilt, I have one more pencil... and in case i lose my eraser, then I have one more.."

Wah, I very impressed.. still got contigency planning:) hahahaha..

Good lah.. tat he take after his father in this aspect :) Hahahaha... dun be a big head prawn like me:)

Previous Post: Eating Competition With Ah Yee

Eating Competition With Ah Yee

Ace is a slow eater.. (just like Ah Yee when she was young, sometimes he shares so many similar traits with her I think itis little wonder pple always think Ace is her son when they go out together!)

So in order to encourage him to eat faster, Ah Yee will always challenge with him and have a competition on who wil finish their dinner first.

The other day, Ace was having like a mini tantrum during dinner and so when Ah Yee came back, Ah Yee told her she wanted to challenge him and they started eating their dinner together...

And then about 10 minutes later, Ace started to scoop food for Ah Yee.. and I was thinking he is such a good little boy to think of Ah Yee and give her food...

And 3 minutes later, Ace told me while clenching his penis, "Mummy, I am very urgent.."

"Then go toilet lah.."

And Ace stood up and strangely, instead of going to toilet, he picked up the ladle and ladled more food into Ah Yee's bowl. Not reading too much into it, I wondered why he did that and was wondering why he is taking such god care of Ah Yee now so I mentioned "Wah, Ace love Ah Yee so much hor.."

And then Ah Yee said, "You think he so good ah.. he is just trying to make sure that I won't win him in the contest lah!"

Sooo desu ne! 原来如此！ Hahahahahaah!

Previous Post: Vera Molested Me!

Vera Molested Me!

The other day when we were chatting, Ace told me that his classmate, Vera, molested her..

I instantly sat up straight and asked him what happened.. and so goes Ace's story..

"I was peeing in the toilet and then Vera came into the toilet and he touched my here.."(Pointing to the joint between his legs and his hips near his penis...) "And then the bunnies said "Vera, you molest Ace..." and then I told Vera to stop and she said, "Ok lor, I don't molest you lor.. and she stopped.."

So I asked him.. "Do you know what is the meaning of the word "molest"?

"Yes, it means to touch other people's private parts.."

"How did you know that?

"I learn by myself lah.." he said..

Anyway, I told Ace that if Vera does it again, he should tell his teacher. I told him the most important thing is also that he does not go and touch other people's private parts."Even if Vera touches you, you don't touch her back.. you go and tell your teacher, ok? Because private parts are called that because they are private.. like your private parts you only can show me, daddy and yourself.. you don't let other people see because they are private..."

He nodded his head...

Anyway, a fren asked me the other day what she should do if her two year old is very self conscious of his body and doesnt want anyone to see it.. and as a result dun like to bath.. I told her I don't have a solution to that because my son is very happy to show off his body.. when he is at home, he is always happy to go run around naked (cos I let him do that when he was young as per adviced by Dr Shichida's book).

Thankfully, the "private parts" explaination helps him understand that he cannot do that in public and show off to anyone in public.. it was also useful for me to explain to him how if someone other than me or Max asked to see his private part, he has to say "No!" and then come and tell me or daddy.. no matter who tat person is..

But leh, because of this, Ace thinks since I can see or touch his private parts, then he can touch mine as well and his favourite hobby is to lie down in my arms with his head on my breast and his hand gently carassing my breast (as per when he was still breastfeeding) and he would also give sudden kisses to my breast.. when I asked him why he did that and he says, "Because I love you mah..." And I have to remind him that he can only do that at home and not in public because people might think he is a rude boy if he do in public...

The other day when we were taking MRT in a very crowded train.. he had to stand next to me and so he lie his head on my tummy and suddenly, his hand came up and caressed my breast in his usual comfort seeking style.. everyone was staring at me and I didn't know wat to do! On one hand, I dun think there is anything wrong with my son seeking comfort and love in an uncomfortable environment but all the staring was not easy to bear...

After we alighted the MRT, I reminded him that he has to remember not to do this in public...

Just how do I explain this to him without curtailing his natural expression of love? I don't want him to think there is anything wrong with our sexual organs or loving them...and there is nothing wrong with even having sexual energy because it is an energy of life and it is attractive...

But this is an Asian society and such expressions of love.. even from a little boy are frowned upon i guess :) Anyway, I dun think Ace will do this for many more years as when they grow up, they are likely to become even more and more self conscious...

Previous Post: We Are Going To Dubai

We Are Going To Dubai!

Since about half a year ago when max announced that he was going to dubai to work, I have also announced to my friends that I might be going to Dubai for good...

Then along the way, we decided tat we will stay in singapore and wait for him to come back because he might be posted back to sgp..

Then, it seemed like he might not be posted back.. and so, all the ding dong and ding dong caused me alot of grief and pain as I feel lost and seemingly unable to make any plans to do anything because I din know whether I will go or stay..

But I felt that despite the many ding dongs, I should tell Ace what me and Max are discussion and also give him a chance to voice his thoughts as the move might likely affect him and change the rest of his life.. cos our moving there might mean Ace will say sayonara to the Singaporean educational system and be stuck in international schools from then on.. or it might mean he might rejoin the local educational system later and have to put in extra effort to catch up..

When I told Ace that we would be staying in Singapore and waiting for Daddy to return.. he expressed grief about not being able to be with his daddy.

And then when we finally had a discussion when Max was back and decided we would move to Dubai, Ace was initially very happy... he was so happy that before I could confirm anything, he went to tell his music teacher that "my mummy is going to cancel this school soon.."

And then, I think it could be that my mother couldn't really bear to see him go to dubai for good.. so she subconsiously started to say things to him like she would tell him.. "You must chant.. chant for daddy to come back to Singapore.. and then you dun need to go over.. the people there all speak strange language and you don't understand them... "etc.. to tell him how bad it is to go over to dubai...

(My mum was subconscious negative about it.. when I told her about the two international schools we were looking at and telling her how the students there are mostly ang moh, she said immediately, "Wait he kenna hoot by the ang moh ah..")

Anyway, that input stayed on with Ace and afterward, he started to be afraid of going over to Dubai...

During our late night chats before bedtime, he will ask me all sorts of strange questions... the strangest one being, " Mummy, did you know that Singapore is number one safe in the world? What if i go there and the people are fighting? What if they push me?"

"Mummy, daddy work friends are all indians.. so all the indian there.. if they talk and say blah blah blah and I don't understand them, how?"

The more he talked about it, the more worries he had and so he asked me, "Mummy, can you ask daddy to cancel his job in Dubai and come back to Singapore? I want to go Kinderland school because I will miss my friends.."

I told him he can make new friends in Dubai.. but he was still not very comfortable when he heard that the children in his new Dubai school would be speaking english and that they would mostly look like Solas (a french kid in his school).

Anyway, we are now waiting for confirmation about Max's posting back to Singapore.. if it is confirmed, then we would still go Dubai for a two mth holiday.. if not, it would be sayonara to all...

When I told Ace we might be going to Dubai only for a holiday, he was really excited and told me that "When I go dubai, everyday I will say 'I want to eat prata, I want to eat prata, I want to eat prata!"

Anyway, KP bought an early xmas present for Ace.. it is a Bob The Builder suitcase.. and Ace was so excited to see it and immediately exclaimed, "Mummy! I can bring this when I go Dubai to Lu Xing leh! Really! Can bring to dubai leh!" And was so excited that he started PACKING all the things he wanted to bring to Dubai into the suitcase... HAHAHHAHAHA...

Previous Post: Laughing In His Sleep

Laughing In His Sleep

That's Ace trying to be funny as he wears my RIBBON HAIRBAND while packing up his homework after doing them.

And a funny boy is he..

The other day, I was happily reading my Sherlock Holmes ebook on my iphone while on the bed and my son suddenly started to laugh in his sleep...

When I turned around to look at him, the funny little boy actually lifted up his own shirt and tickled himself in the tummy and laughed! hahahaha...

I wonder what sort of dream he is having. Maybe dreaming of daddy blowing kisses into his tummy.. tat is one of his favourite games with daddy when he was much younger...

But anyway, he wouldn't need to dream of daddy for long.. we will be visiting daddy very very very soon! :)

Previous Post: Marina Bay Sands Day 2

Marina Bay Sands Day 2

Day 2, Ace woke up bright and early and because we only had biscuits left, he did not really enjoy breakfast and said he was full after only eating ONE digestive biscuit..

Then we made our way to the pool and had alot of fun... While we were at the pool, Ace asked me if we could go take a bubble bath again... so i agreed..

We went back to our room, took a bubble bath and packed up to go home...

After I checked out, Ace folded his arms, stamped his feet and had his lips pursed... he looked like he was ready to cry and when i asked him what is it... he started to rub his eyes and cry.. "I want to stay here..." So I told him we can always come here and stay another day... and he finlly quieten down..

Alas, the way home was filled with many challenges..

After we checked out, it started to rain very heavily... and so I we couldn't leave MBS at all.. I decided to look around for a place to lunch.. Alas, MBS is just filled with Atas shops and atas restaurants. The only place that seemed like there is normal food is Coffee Bean but my son says he doesnt want to eat spaghetti..

After walking around for half an hour, I finally found this little shop tat is like a mini canteen for the staff there. Alas they only sell malay food, cakes, drinks and chap cai beng... so there is no food for my son as well... By then, Ace already decided that he wanted to eat chicken rice and said he onlywants to eat chicken rice..

I told him that there is no chicken rice there and he said, "It's ok, I can wait for the rain to stop and we go back to Bedok to eat at Yi Xing.." And so I bought him a cup of milo and a cup of Chocolate Mousse and so we waited....

We waited and waited and waited.. Ace got tired and came to lie down on my lap...and then he decided not to sleep.. he started to tell me stories, draw... and finally after about an hour, the rain stopped... and we quickly made our way to the MRT station..

Alas when our MRT finally neared Bedok, it started to rain... so I had half a mind to go home. But Ace still insisted that he wanted to eat chicken rice.. and I did not want to disappoint him after the long wait.. so I told him to use his swimming board to cover his head and we will make a dash in the light drizzle and then we will just follow the shelter and take a longer walk to Yi Xing vegeterian stall...I guess we could still make a dash in the drizzle...

But when we reached the NTUC coffeeshop, my son suddenly said that his tummy was aching.. and so I told him if that is the case, we had to go home so that he can poo.. but he still insisted he wanted to eat chicken rice.. this very resourceful mummy suddenly had a brilliant idea and told him we will go Mac Donald to poop...

Unfortunately, Ace was slightly constipated and took a long time to poop... when we finally came out from the toilet, it was raining heavily again and so I told Ace we had to wait in Mac Donalds. But I was thinking, we can't be waiting forever and after 5 min, I decided to just make a dash for it and use the swimming board as the umbrella..

But alas, when we finally reached the vegeterian stall, it was already 3.10pm (we actually checked out at 12 noon lor) and the chef already went home to rest... so we had to order the leftover food... and only two dishes were not spicy... namely the fried green veg and toufu fried with beancurd.. at the suggestion of the stall owner, we added some vegeterian goose and even though Ace was disappointed that he did not get to eat the vegeterian chicken rice, he was too hungry and ate his lunch quickly...

Previous Post: Marina Bay Sands Day 1 Pt 2