I took this photo this morning, and I like it a lot.

ZZzz…on the way to school…

My kids, like most kids, can be as sweet as angels or naughty to the extend of pulling my hairs off. Yesterday, Justin made a fuss at the temple when I brought our new car for prayers. It’s a norm in Thailand to do so, and SIL suggested that we do the same.

Justin wanted to visit one of the temples where cremation ashes are placed, but considering that it’s the 7th month of the Chinese calendar, I’m a bit pantang. I brought him and Isabelle for a walk just near the building, and those photos of dead people really creep me. Sorry, you can call me coward, but in this month, I will try my best to stay away ok?

However, Justin was not satisfied. He still wanted to see more and kept asking me to walk over to the other side. Just imagine me carrying a 12kg Isabelle in my arm, holding Justin in another hand and walking under the hot sun at 12pm. I kept telling him it’s not a place to go, and we already visited some part of it. But he insisted. He kept crying and screaming and pulling me away. He cried and cried until the monk also looked at us liao. Sigh…

I brought him back to the car as I know that he’s tired. But what do you know, he vomited! He has this tendency of vomiting if he cries too much, and luckily I managed to hold the mess with a small towel and my hands. Gosh, hubby’s new car was almost gone. I could see hubby’s angry face in my mind and how Justin is going to be scolded if he messed up the car!

But the monk was great. He comforted Justin in Thai, and asked us to kneel for prayers. Funnily, Justin stopped and only weeped. He gave the kids some pasteurized milk and snacks too. Right after we got in the car, I tried to talk to Justin again about the reason he’s not allowed to go in there. But he insisted that he had done no wrong, even if I told him he’s not allowed to scream at temples. After that, I beh tahan and scolded him as my patience level was over the limit!!!! I think I scared him, SIL and also Isabelle in the car. However, he fell asleep a moment later.

I’m glad that the monk is very considerate. He told SIL that Justin must be tired and thus he’s cranky. Thank god he didn’t lecture my noisy boy at the temple.

After a nap, Justin was feeling better and he’s my sweet little boy again. After some hard time with him, I realized that he can be very determined now. Reasoning with him might not work anymore so I wonder if I should just let him try things out by himself and learn about the consequence? I can’t stress myself out like this all the time, if not I will need more that best acne treatment and anti wrinkle cream for ME.

Filed under : Justin, Mothering Moments

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I picked up my kids late today. I was surprised to see so many children still playing in the school compound even if I was 15 minutes late. Both Justin and Isabelle gave me that “teh” look like they hadn’t seen me for ages. LOL!

They didn’t cry when we left them at school today. It seems like they have adapted well in the new school, even if they can’t understand anything about Thai language. I’m not expecting them to learn much now, as long as they manage to speak after a year, that will be an achievement.

I hope that they will be able to make some friends soon. Justin told me that he plays with the kids, both girls and boys. As for Isabelle, she didn’t say anything about friends. For her age, it’s pretty normal that she doesn’t know how to make friends yet. But one thing for sure, they can tell me what they eat at school. LOL! That’s good enough.

Filed under : Justin, Isabelle

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Justin and Isabelle have always been close to each other. They play, eat, sleep, fight, and do almost everything together. But I notice that they are much closer these days especially after going to school. When they are back from school, they will start playing with each other until we go home. They will do some pretend play and even talk to each other about things we don’t understand. I thought that they will attach to us after school, but it seems like we can still work undisturbed when they are around!

Mmm…It’s a great decision sending them to school huh? LOL!

Filed under : Justin, Isabelle

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I think Isabelle is really a good girl. She stopped crying this morning when we left her at school. She did make some excuses like following me to work instead of going to school, but once her teacher carry her from me, she gave me a smile and kiss me goodbye. On the other hand, Justin pretended to cry, but when he knew that mei mei didn’t cry, he bid us goodbye happily too.

Good hoh? They seem to be doing well only in 3 days. Hopefully they will start to enjoy school.

Filed under : Justin, Isabelle

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We have been talking to our children about going to Thai school for some time. At first, Justin was reluctant to go to school. I can imagine his fear of going to a new school where the children can’t speak English (most of them can’t) and the teachers are speaking alien to him. That’s how I felt when I went to a Chinese kindergarten at the age of 6 too. I couldn’t speak Chinese at all! But it’s going to be more stressful for them as they are much more younger. Isabelle is clueless about the whole thing and furthermore, she has never been to school.

We got the kids ready early this morning. Justin was very cooperative and he knew that he had to arrive early at school. On the other hand, I had to coax Isabelle into putting on her uniform.

Apa pasal woh, have to wear like this, why can’t I wear my Hello Kitty dress?

I have to eat fast fast, I’m gonna be late for school liao…

I must admit that both of them look cute in their uniform.

In order to make them feel better about taking the nap at school, I let them bring along a toy of their choice. Isabelle brought her baby doll and Justin chose his rocket. Both of them were still happy about going to school…

Still very playful…

But when we reached the school, Isabelle started crying. The teacher carried her over from us, and Justin began to cry too. It was chaotic, but hubby and I had to leave the school area as I know that they will stop crying after awhile. It’s not my first time bringing Justin to school, and even if it’s Isabelle’s first day at school, I know how she will react if I’m still around.

We went back to school at 11.30pm to check out the kids, secretly of course. Isabelle was asleep. The teacher said she cried once in a while, but she ate 2 bowls of fried rice and finished her milk. She fell asleep very fast, maybe she’s too exhausted of crying.

Justin stopped crying after we left. He was doing well and I saw a little girl talking to him when he’s lying down on the napping mat. That boy was playing with his rocket and not going to sleep! LOL! The office staff told us that he came out from his classroom and walked over to Isabelle’s classroom to check on her. He kept asking “how’s mei mei?” and the teacher brought him to see Isabelle. Like a big koh koh, he’s still taking care of Isabelle even if they are at school. Somewhere somehow, I was really touched by his gesture. He really takes care of Isabelle and I’m very proud of him.

They will only finish school after 4.20pm. So, let’s see how they do later in the afternoon. Papa and mama will go peeping on them secretly again.

Filed under : Justin, Isabelle, Family Moments

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Justin loves horses. He has a lot of toy horse and one knit horse from me. This photo was taken days ago before our boxes arrived, so now he has more! LOL!

Yesterday, we went shopping at Future Park and he found a wooden horse with a horse that cost near to RM300 (O.o). He asked us to buy one for him, but we didn’t. He made a fuss there but we didn’t surrend to his tantrums because that horse is very costly.

Some time after dinner, I asked the kids to play in their playroom first while I was doing something else in my room. Justin came to me and say, “I don’t have any toys to play. You didn’t buy the horse and horse cart for me.” O.o

I asked him to sit by my side for a serious talk. I told him that papa and mommy are coming here to work and we are not earning any money yet. We should have spent our money on food, horse, car, school and anything more important than a wooden horse. He has a lot of horses already, but someday we will get him that horse that he wants.

He seems to understand what I said and didn’t ask about that horse anymore. Actually, we really want our kids to understand that we can’t just get them anything they want just like that. I guess we have spoiled them a lot (material wise), so it’s time to change.

Nonetheless, someday we will get him that expensive wooden horse. Gee…I really hope to get that horse and the wooden doll house too. LOL!

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I brought Justin to his old school yesterday to pick up his books. I was a bit surprised to know that he has more than 25 books per year because he hardly brought back the books unless there’s a homework. Besides that, we got his exam papers too, and he did very well in his exam. Again, I was shocked to see 100% for English and Maths and 95% for Chinese. Hubby and I didn’t expect much as he skipped school a lot and we were away in Bangkok before his exam. We were only back 2 days before he sat for his exam and both of us thought, “Never mind la, still a kid mah, treat exam as exercise la…”

Hubby was so happy and surprised to see how well Justin did. The biggest surprise is this…

Even if he gets a C for coloring, to us, it’s a masterpiece. Gosh, he really improves a lot in art!

His teacher said that he’s not doing too well in Bahasa Malaysia, but I really don’t mind about it. He won’t be using it any, and he’s learning Thai soon. Sorry ya? I know we are Malaysian, but I think I will emphasize on learning English, Thai and Chinese for the time being. As for Malay, err…..I hardly use it also.

Anyway, we didn’t get him any reward. I’m still thinking if he really needs one because he’s not sure that he has just gone through his first exam. LOL!

Filed under : Justin

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Isabelle has a knitted ballerina doll a year ago, and I promised Justin and I would knit one for him. I thought of knitting a policeman but it was so hard, I gave up. Thus, I have to fulfill my promise and I decided to knit him a horse, which is of course his favorite animal at the moment.

He told me he wanted the horse to be blue with a white nose and white mane (just like the photo in the crochet book), so I did exactly as he said and the crochet diagram is pretty simple. I only took a day to complete it before sending the parts to my regular knitting shop for stitching.

So, here’s Justin’s horse.

He was so delighted to see the horse, his face lightened up when I brought it back from the shop. Then, he started showing everyone and even teased Isabelle that she’s not having any. LOL!

Anyway, I kept my promise and hopefully my kids won’t ask for any knit toy for some time. I still have more than 6 projects to go in Bangkok. Check out my hobby blog for more updates ya?

Filed under : Justin

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Justin talks a lot. Sometimes, he will talk for every letter that he writes when he’s doing his homework, so he’s pretty slow at finishing his work. I asked if he talks that much at school, he said no, he only talks a lot at home. LOL!

I had a few conversation with him which I want him to know, when he’s old enough to read this blog…

Me: Justin, you know about the earthquake in China right? Mummy showed you the photos that day, remember?

Justin: Yes.

Me: Why don’t you give the money in the piggy bank away to them? You won’t be using the money anyway.

Justin: No, cannot.

Me: Why? Some children don’t have place to stay.

Justin: Ya, but they have food to eat. O.o *I showed a photo of a lady cooking outside a tent once*

Me: Not really, some of them are starving.

Justin: No, not my money. Cannot use my money.

Me: Then, what are you going to do with the piggy bank? We can’t bring it to Bangkok, it’s too heavy.

Justin: Puzzled…The money is all mine. O.o

Me: ……

I was really speechless when I heard him saying “The money is all mine”.

Filed under : Justin

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My kids are feeling better this morning. Last night, Isabelle had a high temperature again but I was too tired to get back and check on her. Hubby found out about it and he woke me up. I was shocked to see how hot her little hands were wrapping on my arm, but I didn’t feel anything in my sleep. I must be really exhausted staying up for 3 nights already…

We sponged her and fed her paracetamol. Her temperature dropped to about 37.5 deg an hour later, and we went back to sleep. Justin is recovering well this time and he didn’t have high fever for the past 12 hours. Maybe the visit to the phytobiophysic practitioner yesterday helped a lot. This morning, he woke up feeling well and he wanted to do his homework.

Doing one of his 6 books of homework. O.o

However, he still doesn’t feel like eating. He doesn’t have appetite for anything at all.

He wants to look good in this photo.

Isabelle woke up late this morning. Her temperature stabilizes now and she eats well today.

Flashing her smile at the camera

But still, she has loose stool and keeps telling me “tummy pain pain”. Other than that, she’s alright now.

She looks blur for 3 days already…

If they are still not doing well, we will bring them to see their paediatrician tomorrow. He always gives us some spare medicine since he knows that our kids travel a lot and we might need them at emergency. I’m out of med now, so it’s time to pay him another visit. Let’s see how well the kids are doing tonight first. Fever always strikes my kids during the night, so if they still have it tonight, we need to bring them to the doctor.

Filed under : Justin, Isabelle

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