One expensive plate

We went out for dinner at this Western cafe near our place. They claim to serve Tony Roma's kind of food. (ya, rite!) The owner came out of the shop and was trying her best to convince us about the food, bla bla bla and we eventually went in. The cafe was empty and even Harvynna remarked, 'How come nobody else came here?'

Anyway, Rowena got bored and insisted on getting out of her high chair and was already yelling at the top of her voice. We put her down and she was walking all over the place till she went to the side where they had some 'kayu jati' plates and bowls on display. She pulled one out and before I could rush there to take if off her...... she threw it on the floor and it broke. As the place was empty, all the staff's eyes were on her and the owner immediately came up to us and looked at the bowl and blabbered on an on about how it is authentic kayu jati and very fragile and have to be very careful and we have to pay for it!! It was a whopping RM85 for a really hideous plate.

We swore never to go back there again and of course, Rowena got a good scolding from us, while Harvynna enjoyed every minute of it. Because, for once, Rowena was getting scolding and not her.

Whenever, I asked Rowena why she threw the plate, she would pretend to hyperventilate and breathe heavily. I was really annoyed with her as she was trying to test her limits by throwing the plate till later she gave me her sweet look and kept saying 'sorry mummy'. But of course, Harvynna kept teling me not to talk to her as she was really naughty and not to bring Rowena out the next time we go out.

I think we have to stay away from any fragile places especially at departmental stores or we will end up spending lots of money on broken stuff.

My personal shopper

Harvynna is great company whenever I go shopping. She seems to have really good taste in pickning out clothes and is every willing to give me her feedback. She will follow me to the changing room and tell me what she thinks. It is either a

- this dress is really nice or

- looks ugly or

- looks like an aunty or

- not nice

Even while I am dressing up at home, she will let me know if I look nice, and will help pick out matching earrings.

Buying clothes for her now is difficult as she will choose what she wants and is into denim clothes now. She keeps insisting on denim dresses, overalls, shorts, jeans but I keep telling her that she has so many denim clothes already.

Rowena also tries to give her comments like 'Wah, mummy nice'. But in her case, its 'nice' all the time.

Haha - the benefits of having little girls!!

Life Changes

I was blog hopping earlier and came across a tragedy that struck this family in Australia, where their 3 1/2 year old daughter passed away in a freak accident. While reading the mum's story, I just had this overwhelming feeling that how life can change in a blink of an eye and we have to stop taking things for granted. Her daughter, Ava was just turning 4 (Harvynna's age) and I immediately thought of my 2 girls.

Harvynna is going through this really whiney stage, where she whines for just about anything. She can suddenly burst into tears for no reason and many times, she keeps saying that I dont love her. I think all the attention on Rowena (given by everyone) is really getting to her. Sometimes, she complains that she is not pretty. I think that is because most strangers keep saying how cute Rowena is and she feels it. I told her that people normally say babies are cute but she is so beautiful.

But she feels flattered because Rowena calls her a princess. If you ask Rowena, what is Harvynna, she will say 'Pincess' and when you ask her what is Rowena' she will reply 'duwa' (referring to dwarf). Thanks to Snow White and the 7 dwarfs.

Rowena is really catching up on her speech and can put many words together now. This is good as they can both now communicate to each other and somehow, Harvynna understands, some of the mispronounced words Rowena uses, which we dont! Their conversations in the car can be quite funny sometimes. They both have their own sense of humour.

The other day, we were rushing home to get ready to attend my aunt's birthday dinner. And I told Harvynna jokingly, why dont you stay at home instead. This was her reply:

I will stay home if Rowena stays as well.

And I said OK.

Then she adds, we will use our shoes in the house, and when you come home, the house will be dirty. Then very good for you!........ and they both started laughing.

Some of the cute things Rowena says are:

Eeeeya, daddy poo poo everywhere!

Mummy read! Rowie no no

She refers to Bangsar Village as 'bubble, pop pop pop' because thats where she attends Gymboree!