Princess Mom

Random Highlights of 2011

2012-01-10T14:23:00.000+08:00

H started wearing glasses

R turned 5

H turned 7

H School Action Song team emerged Champion for Zone Bangsar

Girls birthday bash at Fit for 2, Bangsar Villaga

An important milestone for H - starting Primary One

H performing at KLCC

H receiving her prize during the Annual School Prize Giving

H Attended Speech and Drama classes at KLPAC

The girls attended my cousin s's wedding in October

R was Puteri Santubong at her school concert

Deepavali

Family vacation to Krabi

H first school sports where she was the flag bearer

Family getaway to Cyberview during the Hari Raya break

H starred as Judge Ant at KLPAC's production of 'A Bugs Life'

Random highlights of the girls in 2011

Primary 1 completed

2011-11-18T13:06:00.000+08:00

Phew! A huge sigh of relief as Harvynna has successfully completed Primary One. Today was the last day of school and she happily went to school to call it a year. It has been one busy, hectic, crazy year for me especially trying to combine school, all their activities and managing the household.

To expand on my previous post, I am elated that Harvynna did very well in her exam. She scored 100% for 5 out of 7 papers and came out 2nd in her class. I am so proud of her. Way to go, girl. It was tough, for me, at least as I prepared her for her exams, spent time doing revision with Rowena pleading for attention at the same time, and the laundry piled up sky high as I let laundry take a backseat to the exams. A lot of blood, sweat and tears on Harvynna's part especially for the Moral paper - which to me is a stupid paper, with the highest level of BM used. How on earth do they expect a standard one kids to understand that. She would burst into tears as she found it tough. But it paid off as was the only one who obtained 100 marks for that paper. But I must say, that I am really lucky where Harvynna is concerned, as she is a very dilligent girl. Every night, I would assign a couple of revision pages for her to complete after school while she is at the babysitters place and she would complete them on most days. She could easily not bother as I am not around to supervise, but she does it on her own initiative. It was a proud moment for me when she received her trophy on stage.

Now that her exams are over, she is busy catching up on her reading and I basically allow her to do what she wants (that was the promise I made her before her exams). She is growing up so fast to the point that I cant keep up sometimes.

Puteri Santubong and puteri Sejinjang

Rowena still has another 2 weeks of school. She had her annual concert last month, where she was puteri Santubong. She will be taking her taekwando exams next week, where she would obtain the orange belt. Rowena is clearly more of the active sort and prefers to enjoy life rather than conform to structure. One more year of kindergarten and she is off to Primary school.

Both of them started Odissi classes to instill a sense of dance and also for them to get in touch with their roots!

Puteri Santubong - captured

Year End Exams

2011-10-20T08:50:00.000+08:00

Today is the last day for H's exams. Phew. I can finally breath a sigh of relief. Its Art and Music today, so technically, it was over yesterday. Its so competitive these days....she is only in primary one, but the competition is so stiff. Everyone gets high 90's for all papers so, if you dont get 100, your position would drop. They shoudl do away with positions as it causes unnessary stress on everyone. With the new KSSR system in place, its suppose to move away from exam oriented structures, but sadly, despite parents opting for a more holistic environment, at the end of the day, they still look at how many As you get. In this case, it is getting 100% for all papers.

H worked hard, not crazy hard , but hard enough. So I should be happy for whatever marks she obtains. Yes, I would be dissapointed, if she does not obtain the top 3 placings, but since I opted for THAT school, I have to accept the competition. More so, most of them there go for private tuition. She does not - I am her private tutor :) I believe in the early years, its nothing like having the support of your own parents, than depending on external help. So, if she does well, I deserve a pat on my back too!!

Rowena icing a cake at Roald dahls bday party

Harvynna's turn to ice the cake

Anyway, exam week is actually a good bonding week for us as I pick her up from school (which is a treat for her), bring her out for a nice lunch (her choice), and then she gets to spend one on one time with me.... without R hogging the attention. We do some revision - and then have a nap, and I think she values that and seems very happy and relaxed to have mummy with her. That is a luxury these days for most kids as most mothers are working mothers and time is a rare commodity. For this exam, I opted for a more relaxed mode as preparations began much earlier than the last round.

Of course, during the last 1 month, R has been slightly neglected, as most of my time is spent revising with H. But that will change after today. Yesterday, I got both of them to practise their art together for Harvynna's art paper today.

Sometimes I wonder, if the girls are too busy with all kinds of activities. They dont complain, so I take it as ok. I always offer the option to stop, but they dont want to. (except for R - who wants to stop Enopi coz its too much work!!) But i would like to give them the opportunity to try various things, as good academic results alone is not enough today. I have interviewed dozens of people at work, and many with good academic results are just bores, speak horribly and do not have the guts to do a presentation. That's why I hope by exposing them to various other non academic programmes, they will grow to be more confident and not for anything else.

The girls are starting classical Indian dance next week. Let's see how that goes.

Rowena's updates

2011-10-03T18:17:00.000+08:00

Just looking through some previous postings and it seems like its all about Harvynna. Not that I am biased - just that there is a lot to update since she started Primary school. Rowena is still the happy go lucky girl with a mind of her own. There is no way I am able to control her as she does what she wants and does not care about the consequences. She is a survivor - this one.

Started her on Enopi classes since July as she needs someone to sit down with her and practice with her. She climbs all over my head so I cant do it with her. She is progressing slowly but surely. I dont push her, but it irritates me that she refuses to do her homework and ends up bullying the teachers in class. Now, i can see that she responds well with praise - when she gets the answers right, her face lights up and feels very proud of herself. So I guess I have to praise her all the time.

As for swimming, she is progressing not as fast as Harvynna as she still has a fear of water when it is a pool she is not familiar with. But she totally enjoys her swimming lessons.

In school, I am very happy with her reading progress. She is catching up fast and can read quite a few words. She tries to read books, the titles of movies on TV and feels very proud that she is doing well. Bravo.

So, I guess, I need not worry too much about her, if she wants to do something, she can - so I will just let her progress at her own pace. Its different with Harvynna where she naturally wants to excel at everything and is very competitive in nature. Rowena just wants to smell the roses and take things one step at a time. The 2 videos here describe her best!

Term Break & updates on the girls

2011-08-29T10:46:00.000+08:00

Its the short term break in conjunction with Hari Raya. Was so looking forward to this break.... i look forward to any break as I dont have to wake up at unearthly hours to get Harvynna ready. Its' such a blessing that we live 5 minutes from her school, or we would have to wake up much earlier. That's why, as much as the school has not lived up to my expectations, she is still there!!

I can't believe that its almost September. 3 more months and its the holidays. Harvynna will be in Primary 2 and Rowena will be a senior at her kindergarten!

Let's see...... what has been happenning so far?
- Harvynna completed her mid term exams and did fairly well. She scored high 90s for all her papers (including Mandarin!)But, the competition at her school is so great. Everyone did well - almost everyone goes for private tuition, some of them were even asked to change their answers during the exam, but not Harvynna. - no private tuition (I am her tutor), no help at all... so i think she did very well. It was a good eye opener for her - she was the best student in her kindergarten, so she became quite complacent. Now, she knows that this is the real world, so you have to work hard. There is no shortcut.

It was quite slow in terms of other activities at school. Since the school team emerged runner up at the State Action Song competition, they did not proceed to the National level. She has started practising again as they will be performing for the Hari Malaysia celebrations in September.

She did complete Semester 2 at KLPAC - the students put up 'musical magic' where the 7-9 year olds put up the nighmare before Christmas. I am sure Amy Chua would have shook her head as the performance took 3 hour practises on Sundays for 10 weeks, and she was one of the 20 performers!! Well, she enjoyed it, and does provide good exposure for her, besides making new friends.

She took part in her school sports day. Being the tallest, she was the flag bearer. However, her team did not do too well, but she enjoyed the experience. Her class was Team New zealand. Next year, we will win it :)

In terms of swimming, Harvynna has progressed very well. She is swimming quite confidently and is not afraid of going to the deep end. Rowena on the other hand, is still quite scared, and has only just started letting go of the ladder!!! I hope to stop their lessons by the end of this year. Its quite a costly affair for the 2 of them.

Taken in July at my birthday dinner

Completed Semester 2 at KLPAC

Flag bearer for School sports day

KLPAC performance

I feel kind of bad, that I am not able to provide the same support to Rowena. First, of all, I dont send her to school anymore, so I dont get to meet with her teachers that often. But I am very pleased, that she has improved tremendously in her reading. I think she is progressing well in this department. As for her Maths, she has started Enopi - she actually sits with the teacher,but I have yet to see much progress. The teacher says that she is good, but gets bored easily. She enjoys ballet, and she does show me from time to time, what she learns at ballet. Oh yes, she just passed her Taekwando exams and is now a yellow belt. She was so proud to have acomplished this and earned a certificate - she so wants to be like her sister; bagging prizes and awards.

Harvynna's progress at school

2011-05-24T12:33:00.000+08:00

Its' almost the end of the 1st term and H is now sitting for her 1st mid term exams or know as PKSR. This is the most stressful time for me, trying to ensure that she is prepared for the exams. It has been a terribly hectic 2 months as she was part of her school's action song team. The school was all out to win and they had practises every afternoon till 5 and on certain weekends and public holidays. They had to be at school by 5.30am on competition days and had to miss quite a number of school for practices.The hard work paid off as they emerged Champion for the Zone Championships and Runner up for the State level. Although everyone was disappointed that they did not win the State level, but it was a great experience for her and she knows that victory does not come without hard work.

The State level Championship was last week (the week before her exams) - so the last 2 months, I have been rushing to pick her up from school after work and bringing her home to ensure homework is completed and some revision is done. I know at times, she comes back totally drained, thats why I started the preparations early. Immediately after the competition on Thursday, it was work, work, work, practice, practice, practice. I know she is only in Primary one but the competition is so great. Besides, I know she is a smart girl, thats why I push her to reach her maximum potential. The problem is the language coz everything is now in BM. She finds difficulty understanding some of the instructions and a lot of time was spent on it.

I prepared a note book for her where i wrote down the frequently used words and their translation. THen the book expanded to include short notes and topics and areas to remember.

I told her that she has done her best, and done the revisions, so now just do her best. Its ok to make mistakes it she does not know the answer, as she will learn, but it is not ok to make careless mistakes. She knows that she must check and check again once she has finished each paper.

Wish her all the best. Today she has her Maths and Science paper, which I feel are the most important papers. Another 2 days more and she can be free to do what she wants. She has insisted that she wants to now go for dance classes, on top of her speech and drama, takwando, musical theatre and swimming. The life as a child growing in KL is definitely not easy.........

2011

2011-02-09T12:26:00.000+08:00

My first post for the year!! With the convenience of Facebook, blogging is such an effort.

2011 began as a new and exciting year. Harvynna started Primary One and Rowena is now a semi-senior at kindergarten.

Let's start with Harvynna:

Its been more than a month and she has settled in well at her school. Well, the first 3 weeks was more of an orientation programme. It was only after that that they started with lessons proper - of which, she is bored to tears. She wonders why she does the same work that Rowena does at kindergarten. Poor gal! She said that ' I know you sent me here because its the best government school, but it is still lousy'. Told her to keep that opinion to herself or she will be blacklisted!!

The only consolation is that they have watered down the BM syllabus, so its not as difficult as the KBSR syllabus. To overcome her boredom, Harvynna has increased her appetite for reading. Her favourites are Amelia Jane and Mr Meddle series by Enid Blyton, The Magic Ballerina Series and Roahl Dahl books. She thinks Roahl Dahl's books are the greatest!
To maintain her sanity, she continues with her Taekwando classes at her previous kindergarten (together with Rowena), and also goes for Musical Theatre, Speech and Drama and will start swimming lessons this weekend. Hopefully, all these activities will tire her out and she will complain less!

Most of her front milk teeth have dropped and have been replaced by permanent teeth. Its quite funny to see that the permanent teeth are much bigger than the milk teeth.

As for Rowena, she is now in the 5 year old class. She still can't read and refuses to learn. I tried many tactics, but she still does not want to learn - so I decided not to push it. Eventually, she will learn. After all, her ambition is to be a 'tol counter' - the person who collects toll money at the toll booth.

But her Maths skills is slowing improving. I guess she is keen on picking up the necessary skills for that job!
She goes for Taekwando, Ballet and Speech & Drama and will also start swimming. She loves anything that has nothing to do with academic learning.(except for Taekwando as she gets lots of scolding from the teacher)

The year has only just begun and it is already madness. From waking up at 6am to prepare her breakfast and lunch, send her to school and head off to work myself and rushing around on weekends for enrichment classes. To think, there's just another 13 years more to go!!!

Upgraded to a school going mum

2010-12-23T18:03:00.000+08:00

Yes, my status has been upgraded since Tuesday, 21 Dec, 2010!

Harvynna attended her Primary One Orientation at her big school in her new uniform. Initially, I was quite afraid as everything will be in BM and I dont know how she will be able to adapt to the switch. But, I dont think it will be a problem after I saw how she blended in during the orientation.

About a week before, she was already getting excited and asked me, 'Do i have to speak in Malay? Will everyone be speaking in Malay?' I told her that the teachers will probably speak in Malay but I am sure all the kids will be speaking in English as most of the children from that school come from English speaking homes.

When we reached the school, many parents and students were already there, some in the canteen, some in the Primary One classrooms. We went to the row of classes and saw that she had been placed in 1 Dinamik. We were also glad to see that another boy from her kindergarten was also placed there. That made her really happy too as they were chummy since kindergarten.

Once we were in the hall, the Principal requested that all the children be sent to the classrooms as they had to sit for a test!! I was a bit annoyed that we were not informed of the test. But, I knew Harvynna was quite well prepared for PRimary One.

From 2011 onwards, all students entering PRimary One will be following the KSSR syllabus. There have been some changes to the curriculum where a more holistic approach will be adopted. At stage One, there will be less emphasis on exams. Students will also be graded based on their involvement in co-curricular activities. So far so good........

Students will stay back once a week to do either CHinese, Arabic or Tamil.

Core subjects are English, Malay, Maths, music, Seni Visual. I did not see any Science but books on Science and Technology were included in the booklist. The subjects will be taught in a thematic method. They claim that the teaching and learning methodologies will be more interactive and interesting. We will have to wait and see!

Since this school works very closely with the PIBG, the PIBG also arranges various other activities (at a cost, of course) to provide a more well rounded education. The Principal mentioned that this school scored the second highest best results in the recent UPSR exam in klang Valley and many students have represented the country in various arenas. As one of the 'Sekolah Berprestasi Tinggi', the school has the autonomy to do additional programmes, if necesssary.
So , I hope everything works out well for her as we moved house just to be near this school.

The test was a Ujian Linus to test children's basic skills in literacy and numeracy. 2 papers were tested - Bahasa Malaysia and Mathematics. Harvynna and her friend found the paper easy peasy. (It was kindergarten level) The test is to identify these students and place them in a Linus class. The Linus class will help these students achieve the basic skills before they move on. This system would be very good in the rural schools, I guess. The other students will be placed in the normal stream class and there will be no streaming throughout. Students will be placed based on gender and race.(to have a good balance)

This weekend, my task is to wrap all her books (yawn!!) and get her ready for her big day.

Concert & Graduation 2010

2010-12-10T13:22:00.000+08:00

Harvynna's graduation ceremony

Rowena's monkey dance

Harvynna's Tiki Tiki Dance

With my celebrities

Moving on....

2010-12-10T13:10:00.000+08:00

Can't believe that my little girl has 'graduated' from preschool and is now moving on to Primary school. This is a big step for all of us as it affects our whole routine. Waking up at six to ensure she gets to school on time. Its different with kindergarten where everyone is late.

Harvynna will be attending her Primary school orientation on Dec 21, where she gets to wear her new uniform. She is very excited. My journey has only just begun.

Dug up some old pics of Harvynna at kindergarten.

5 year old

6 year old

Now a senior at school - introducing Rowena to everyone

Last day of preschool with her dearest principal - all grown up, confident and ready to
take on Primary school (November 30th, 2010)

Year End 2010

2010-11-22T11:11:00.000+08:00

Its been a while. Making it a point to put something down as it is almost the end of the year and Harvynna starts a brand new era next year. What has been happenning since the last post?

- family holiday to Cherating. We went on a short getaway to Cherating during the long Merdeka break. It was the first holiday in 2010. Pathetic, but somehow we managed to do it. The girls had a whale of a time swimming, lazing, eating and just spending time with us. Rowena was quite sick before we went. But once we reached Cherating, she immediately got well. The last day of our trip was cut short, as Rowena was summoned back to KL for a TVC shoot.

School Year End Concert & Graduation

The girl's had their annual concert at the end of October. The theme for this year was 'The Jungle Comes Alive'. Rowena's class performed a Monkey Coconut Dance and Harvynna's class performed the 'Tiki Tiki Dance'. Harvynna performed really well and was very confident. Guess her musical Theatre classes paid off. Rowena on the other hand, looked a little lost and looked like she was waiting for her performance to be over. It's her first performance on stage in front of a big audience. It was also Harvynna's graduation. This is her last year at her school and next year she will be moving to Primary One. My little girl is growing up too fast. I must say, her kindergarten has done well for her and she will definitely miss the school.

We moved....

We moved to our new place, finally. We moved because we wanted a bigger place, plus I wanted to live nearer to Harvynna's school. We now live 5 minutes away from her school and 15 minutes away from my work, which would save a lot of time next year. I can only imagine next year would be 100 times more hectic than this year with Harvynna in Primary school. I must say I am definitely a Supermum managing a full time job, 2 hyper active and demanding kids with NO maid.

Rowena's debut on tv!

2010-09-13T12:38:00.000+08:00

Rowena's appearance in the Fernleaf ad recently.

Whats been happenning?

2010-07-14T12:33:00.000+08:00

I hardly ever update this blog now that I can see cobwebs beginning to appear. Think am losing my mojo for updating the blog since the girls are much bigger now and I am so busy trying to keep up with life's routines!

What's been happenning so far with the girls?

Rowena started ballet lessons at school and she totally loves it. She actually talks about it all the time so I can tell that she really enjoys it. I made her pay for her own costume (terrible mummy). She used the money she earned from her shoot for that! My reason, is I had my doubts that she would pursue it further but she insisted that she would!!
Harvynna started musical theatre lessons. The teacher is good, but she was kind of put-off as the first song she learnt was 'Hello Dolly' and not some latest Jason Bieber or Kelly Clarkson hit. Lets see how that goes. She actually signed up as she aspires to be like Rachel from "Glee'. Next on the list, is vocal lessons which is due to start in August.
The girls did another small shoot for Colgate. Well, actually Rowena was selected, but Harvynna managed to slot herself somewhere at the back!
Harvynna's other front tooth is shaking - which means she would be able to sing 'All I want for Christmas is my 2 front teeth' pretty soon. Poor gal - she had to forgo a few casting offers due to that!
Both girls are sleeping in their own room now
Rowena is able to read and write a few words now. Quite average for her age group, nevertheless I am still very proud of her
FIFA World Cup - Rowena was a SPAIN supporter while Harvynna was an Argentina supporter, then Germany, then Netherlands, then Spain supporter. Basically, she does not stick to one team - she changes as the teams progress and looks most likely to win!!!

2nd Parent Teacher Meeting

2010-06-01T17:46:00.000+08:00

The girls gave me the notice from the school that the Mid Year PTM was on. I felt like I had just attended the last one and here it is again. This year has just swooshed by - 7 more months and Harvynna starts Primary school and I havent even decided where to send her. We have done all the necessary registrations, but there are lots of things to consider. From Primary 1, 2011, all schools will have to revert to teaching Maths & Science in BM. Initially, I thought Harvynna would be safe as they were supposed to start it only in 2012, but alas, they now have decided for 2011.

Back to the PTM, it was a real long wait. I thought I will beat the queue by going there early, but there were many other earlier birds.Plus, i have to see 2 class teachers this time, so that would take even longer. I started with the BM teacher (who by the way, is an excellent BM teacher)

Well, as expected, she mentioned that Harvynna is a very good girl and catches up very fast. (yawn...)
She is advanced in her reading and writing and takes the iniative to do things and also speaks to her in BM. She has no issues with her and in fact she encouraged me to start giving her simple essays to write in BM. Looks like i will have to practice my BM too.

Then, the teacher says, 'Do you mind if we discuss Rowena no?' Then she starts off with 'Rowena is totally different from Harvynna. All the teachers here say the same thing.' Then I knew where she was heading!!
She says Rowena has a mind of her own but is very entertaining. She talks to everyone and is very friendly. Her attention span for her work is quite short so she gets bored fast. She does not seem to like BM much' - so she keeps volunteering to send things to the office so she can miss the class.
But I told her that its ok since Rowena is only 4. Then again, she says 'but when Harvynna was 4, dia sangat cepat dan verrrry interested in her work'.

Then when I went to see Harvynna's class teacher, it was the same story - Harvynna is doing very well and is a very helpful girl. I did ask her about 2 girls, that Harvynna really dislikes and the teacher said that those girls are very loud and quite rebellious - so harvynna finds them annoying. The girls are also quite intelligent so she probably feels the competition. So young - and so competitive.

Then I went to see Rowena's class teacher - she started with Rowena being very friendly and kind. She is loved by all the teachers and students and is everyone's friend.And she related a few stories about Rowena, which was quite funny yet sweet. And that was it. i looked at her and asked 'What about her work?' Then she paused for few seconds and said, that her work has improved a lot from when she first came and showed me her work - looked ok. How much can you expect from a 4 year old?. She mentioned that Rowena loves to sing and dance like she did at the last school assembly.And that was it???

These teachers must have been trained to focus only on the positive things!

It's hard to imagine how different these 2 girls are. But I would rather have them this way, then to have 2 exact characters - definitely spices up everyone's life!!

The 2 divas

2010-05-17T12:57:00.000+08:00

Sometime in April, both Harvynna and Rowena were selected to appear in a TVC for the Middle East and India market. Although, the amount paid was quite small, i thought why not since they get to go together and with 2 of them, the amount does not seem so bad!

The shoot was at Putrajaya and they were shooting many scenes with the adults at vaious locations - we followed them everywhere, and by the time it was 7pm (we were there since 12.00pm), they told us that they cant shoot the girls and they had to come back the next day!!!!???P#@@@ Anyway, since, they would pay us for both days, and since we waited the WHOLE day, we said ok.

So, we were there bright and early the next day, and the girls were excited and looking forward to the shoot. Harvynna loves dressing up and getting her hair done, and Rowena was just happy to be there. Finally, their turn came, and they shoot was under the blazing hot sun in Putrajaya. HArvynna did not care - she happily went under the sun and did what she was told. As for Rowena.........

the moment it was her turn, she looked at everyone and said.....'NO - I dont want. Its too hot'. She just refused to go under the sun. The director and the rest of the crew told her to go and she said,'Too hot'. In the end, the director requested for umbrellas. So while she was under the sun, she had 2 guys holding umbrellas over her head. Once the camera was rolling, the guys ran off. In between each take, the guys came back with the umbrellas!!!

At the end of the day, I told them, see acting is such hard work, you spend so much time waiting and waiting, you have to go under the sun - do u want to do it again?
Rowena said 'NO' but Harvynna said 'YES. i love it'!!!!

Last week, my cousin asked Harvynna to go for a casting, but in the end they chose Rowena!! So of course, Harvynna was quite annoyed and disappointed and felt like the whole world was against her!!

The shoot was done last Thursday, and I (and everybody else) was ready to strangle Rowena.

First of all, she refused to have her make up and hair done. All she said, was 'DONT WANT' and kept hiding behind me. They bribed her with all kinds of things and threatened to tell her uncle (my cousin) but she was not bothered. In the end, they told her that they will replace her with Harvynna and that did it. She said 'NOOOOOOOO!!!!!' No Harvynna'.

She finally warmed up and did not stop singing the song she was supposed to sing. She was finally in the mood!

When it was finally her turn, she bullied everyone around her, demanding for sweets, water, and having her face wiped. She made the others sing for her and God knows what. After many takes, she said' I am not doing any more, you keep asking me to do. No more ok'. We persuaded her to do one final round but it must be done perfectly,which she replied 'dont tell me what to do. I know what to do' and she did it.

Gosh, I was so embarassed. I can clearly see that Rowena just does not like being told what to do. She has her own mind, and if something is not to her convenience, she just wont do it!!!

Rowena's 4th birthday party

2010-05-11T15:41:00.001+08:00

We celebrated Rowena's birthday in Melaka at my parent's place. Again, she did not mind any cake and was willing to settle for the same cake she had last year or the previous year!! So we chose the Strawberry Shortcake Cake to match her school bag. It was a delicious sugee cake, which is quite hard to find nowadays.

Harvynna, being my dad's pet, had a cake for her as well - so all in all Harvynna got to cut 3 cakes this year. My cousin organised the games with the kids - who were quite unsporting!! I guess the older kids are already at the age where they dont want to perform in front of everyone.

It was a small, but meaningful party as Rowena was surrounded by family and close friends.

HAPPY 4th BIRTHDAY CUTIE ROWENA (belated entry)

2010-05-11T15:28:00.000+08:00

My little princess turned 4 on April 25th. She was really excited about celebrating her birthday at school since it would be the first time, plus Harvynna had celebrated her bday in school 2 weeks earlier. Since my school was closed for a week due to the H1N1, I grabbed the opportunity to celebrate her birthday on the Friday before (23rd) - did not have to take any leave.

I ordered an identical cake (like Harvynna's). it was lilac to match her dress. Rowena is not very fussy, she really did not mind any cake, as long as there was a cake. She is very easy to please when it comes to things like this - unlike Harvynna, who wants everything to be perfect.

Her class party was a sweet affair - all the 4 year olds were so cute. They each, gave her a hug when she gave them their party pack. They even performed a dance for me!!

Despite Rowena's extreme naughtiness, she is a very loving lil girl. Despite the fact that Harvynna did not allow her anywhere near her class during her birthday party, Rowena went upstairs to specially give Harvynna a piece of cake. I could see that Rowena was really happy for me to be there, as it is a rare occasion that I visit her during school hours.

It was a weekend of birthday celebrations for her as we had a small party in Melaka the next day with close family and friends.(next post)

Harvynna's 6th birthday Spa-rty

2010-04-19T12:36:00.007+08:00

Ever since, I started working in this job in 2008, April is a crazy month ......with 3 birthdays and 1 Open Day to manage, you can imagine the stress.

So this year, Harvynna wanted to have a small party with her close friends besides the cake cutting at school. So I told her, since she is 6, she can invite 6 friends - but they must be independant to stay without their parents, as the place mentioned that they cannot really accomodate parents and kids due the the limited space.

So she made the list, I approved and added one or 2 of my good friends children of the same age. Everything was done really at the last minute!

We had the party at Feffy's Kids Spa in Mont Kiara. They had a 2 hour package, where the girls get a spa pedicure, make up and hair done, while they run around and go crazy with the array for costumes and wigs.

Harvynna prepared the sandwiches, helped me fry the nuggets and do the party packs which was a set of fairy wings and a wand. Basically, I made her do everything as I was too zonked out from the Open Day.

A fun day out for the girls, overall!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARVYNNA - 12 April 2010

2010-04-15T14:06:00.005+08:00

Harvynna turned 6 on April 12th. Cant believe she has grown and is so matured now. Next year, she will be in Primary One and she is really excited to start a new Chapter in her life. She keeps telling Rowena that she wont be there to look after her as she will be going to a Big school.

She celebrated her birthday in school on the 12th with all her friends. It was an extremely exhausting day for her as she had a TVC shoot over the weekend in the hot sun - which made her quite moody. (will blog about that later)

Poor gal. Anyway, we are having a party for her this weekend at the SPA with only her closest friends.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS - YOU HAVE ALWAYS MADE US PROUD!!!!

Parent teacher meet

2010-03-01T11:52:00.004+08:00

Last Thursday, was the girl's parent teacher meet at their kindergarten. Since it was the first meeting, it was more to discuss the child's adjustment to the new level and what to discuss if the expectations of parents are met.

I was very confident of Harvynna's report as she usually gets loads of praises, but I was quite interested to see what the teachers would say about Rowena.

So for Harvynna - it was all good. The same report about her excelling academically and being the top of her class. She now shares the position with another boy who joined the school this year.She was quite upset to hear that!! But, the teacher mentioned that she is quite reserved. She has her own group of friends and does not really mix with the rest. She focuses on her work most of the time.

Harvynna has grown to be exactly like ME! She is really my mini.The teacher would like her to be more vocal. Dont know if that is a good thing but I supposed in today's world, it is. The funny thing was Harvynna's teacher immediately made the comparison to Rowena, saying she is very friendly and vocal and is friends with everyone and went on and on about Rowena's colourfulness!! I was like' eh, i thought we were discussing Harvynna here'!

Apparently, Rowena has made a name for herself at school - not academically but by just being herself. She is friends with the kids in all the other classes and loves entertaining the teachers. Her class teacher was actually describing incidents of Rowena and other teachers as the other teachers had told her about them!! Funny ones!

Work wise, she just does it for the sake of doing it, then she does other things like clean the tables after meal time, send the register to the office. Well, Rowena did say that she wants to be a 'kakak' when she grows up.

The teacher did say that she is very brave and participates in all the activities e.g. singing, dancing, speaking. Although, her motor skills are good, she still needs a lot of practice writing. Again, Rowena's class teacher said that Rowena is the total opposite of Harvynna, who has always put her academic work as priority. For Rowena, its all about having fun.

Next Malaysian Idol?

2010-02-11T15:32:00.003+08:00

Here's a video of Rowena in action. She wanted me to take a video of her and offered to sing for me. It's free entertainment. How can I complain?

BTW- she has removed her cast and is back to being Rowena.

Rowena's fractured arm

2010-01-18T12:12:00.004+08:00

Poor Rowena Fractured her left hand (radius bone) yesterday. After lunch, the girls were playing in the room and as per Harvynna's report, Rowena said, 'you want me to show you how to climb without holding?" and that's what she did but felt down immediately. She must have tried to use her hand to soften her fall, and that would have caused the fracture.

She came out crying but I thought it was one of her usual falls. However, she was quite clingy and kept on clinging to me, and every few seconds, told me it was painful.Then she said, she wanted to sleep and I took her to my room to sleep. She was really holding on like a koala bear. She woke up after an hour and kept calling for me and complaining of the pain. So I knew something was definitely wrong, as she normally does not cry for long if she falls. So we thought its best to bring her to a hospital. Harvynna was being very sweet, and brought her pants for her as she was quite concerned for her sister.

In the hospital, she was really so tired and in pain, and looked so weak - so unlike the Rowena we all know. The doctor on call sent her for an x-ray and she yelled in pain during the x-ray. Harvnna and I waited outside and we could hear her screaming asking to go home. She could not place her hand flat as instructed due to the fracture.

Then we went back to the paed on call and he said that he could see a slight fracture on her radius and he called for the orthopaedic dr who had a look and immediately confirmed the fracture. He put a cast for her, but he said as she is very young, it should heal very fast. Rowena was quite traumatised after the xray, and was not keen to see another doctor. She was sniffling during the visit and kept requesting to go home. Somehow, after the cast, she felt a bit better but the pain comes back every now and then. Since she came home, she has been a real baby asking for sweets, drinks and me to be by her side all the time. She keeps asking me to remove the cast.

Poor gal, she is off school, but may send her back on Thursday, if she is better. Of course, Harvynna cant wait to tell everyone at school what happenned to her sister.

True colours Revealed

2010-01-14T13:51:00.004+08:00

Just as I guessed, Rowena is now pretty comfortable in school and her true colours are slowly but surely, being revealed!!

Was talking to her principal this morning, and the moment she saw Rowena, she started laughing and told me this is what happenned .

All students were given the insurance forms to bring back for parents to fill. Harvynna brought hers back, but I noticed that Rowena did not have hers. So I asked Rowena, where hers was and she replied ' Dont knowla that Teacher Shanti - she did not give me'. I told her to request for a new one (coz I knew she had lost hers)

Then yesterday, she asked the office administrator for a new one. And when they asked her where her form was, and this was how the conversation went:

Rowena: 'I was playing with it, and I dont know where it went'

Administrator: 'I will give you a new one but will you pass it to your mummy?'

Rowena:'No, I will play with it and throw it in the dustbin'

Administrator: 'In that case, I will pass it to Harvynna then'

Rowena: 'Ok, Fine. Do whatever you want"

???????? Now, that is the Rowena we all know - not the sweet, cute, smiley faced, tongue tied image she tried to potray earlier at school.

And apparently, after I leave every morning, she is very chatty to everyone. She is really one motor mouth.

Just last night, I told her to pack an extra set of clothes in her school bag and she replied: 'Wait, cant you see I am doing something. Are you blind? Huh?'

The other day, when we were back in Melaka and there was no place for her to sit, she asked us ' Where do you expect me to sit? On the roof?"

It may sound funny but when we are caught in the daily stresses, it comes to a point that far surpasses annoyance, like the other day, on the way home, she was messing with my CDs that was in the back pocket of the front seat. So of course, she got a good yelling to which she calmly answered ' the CDs are at my side, so I can do whatever I want' only to receive more yelling from me.

So she got fed up and told me' Ok. Fine- I am not going to tell you what I did in school because you are very rude!!!!!'

Aargh, I am sure she is going have lots of meeting with the Principal and discipline teachers once she goes to Primary school. Luckily, she still has 3 years more to change!!

When did this sweet lil girl turn into .......

this little monster?

After one week......

2010-01-12T11:56:00.005+08:00

...........of school, the girls have adapted themselves very well. The school already started 'lessons' last week, but will start the actual schedules this week. All the outsourced teachers will also start this week.

Am pleased to note that Rowena's teacher mentioned that Rowena picks up things very fast and is quite attentive in class and also follows instructions well. I am relieved coz, unlike Harvynna, who started kindy knowing how to read and write, Rowena went in - zero and untamed!! As she was not interested, I did not push her and let her be as I knew eventually she would be interested. I did notice that when it is someone else giving her instructions, she would follow happily - just like her Musikgarten classes. The only thing is she cannot wait for her turn. I know what it is like - if she wants something, she can not wait and screams and whines till she gets it.

Speaking of Musikgarten, will probably stop those classes in April (once she turns 4) as she already does music in school and I could do with the break!!

Harvynna goes down to check on her sister - most of the time, if she sees Rowena busy with her work, she would leave and go back to her class. Now, its quite funny to hear them comparing what they learnt in school. Rowena gets really irritated when Harvynna sings the songs Rowena learnt.

Its quite funny to see Rowena transform into an angel once she reaches school. She will be the typical monster at home and in the car, but the moment we reach school, she becomes so innocent and sweet.haha

Her new best friend is a girl called Kyra. She does not like the boys and does not mix with them!!

The other thing is the moment she started school, she is totally off diapers. She was diaper free in the day but wears them at night to sleep. Somehow, she decided to grow up when she started school and does not wear diapers at all now. Yay to her. She sleeps in her own room the whole night, unlike Harvynna who still ends up in our room.

New year, new routine

2010-01-04T10:46:00.006+08:00

The school holidays flew by so quickly and its back to a new school year. This time, Rowena starts kindy as well and she was so excited as she gets to don a new uniform like her sister and act all grown up. The good thing is that Harvynna goes to the school, so I dont really have to worry about Rowena feeling lost. She looked really cute in her oversized uniform (am hoping she can wear them for the next 3 years!!) and her 2 ponytails.

When I woke them up this morning, they immediately jumped out of bed in excitement, despite the rain.

I had brought them to school on Saturday, to pay their fees (left a big hole in our pockets) and for Rowena to familiarise herself with the teachers and school. The good thing about their kindy is it is very warm and everyone knows everyone. So even, all the other teachers teachers gave Rowena a warm welcome as they had all known that Harvynna's lil sister would be joining the school.

When I dropped them off this morning, Rowena immediately went to her class, put her bag in the allocated shelve and sat down with her teacher quietly. I waved goodbye to her and she waved back smiling. No tears, no wailing....she just sat down. I went upstairs to check on Harvynna, and of course the school being HER territory, she was very comfortable and had reserved seats for her friends from the previous class. Harvynna got her wish as the teacher she got was the one she requested for and Rowena got the strict teacher!!

I just called the school to check if Rowena was ok, and they said that she was fine and did not cry one bit. Well done, Rowena. I am so proud of you. I actually felt a bit bad as all the other parents stayed back with their child, while I went in, saw that they were ok, and left immediately, but at the same time, I felt proud that I have 2 independant kids.

Cant wait to hear her version of what happenned in school.

With Rowena in school, my mornings are going to be more hectic, having to get them both ready, prepare their breakfast, get myself ready and send them to school, and head off to work. Harvynna was more independant and used to shower and dress herself for school. Now, she ensures Rowena has her breakfast while I shower. Its helps that they do everything together.

Happy New Year

2009-12-30T18:01:00.005+08:00

Note: The beautiful dresses courtesy of the talented Kids Islands (hand made). Thanks Jess, for rushing them!

Suddenly it is the end of December......again - and we realize that with the giant strides we started in January within what seems like the blink of an eye, 2009 is on its back!

This year has been exhausting but great and next year my lil Rowie starts kindergarten while pretty Harvynna is at the senior class in kindergarten.

HAPPY 2010 everyone and a wonderful year ahead!!!

School updates & Harvynna's PTM

2009-11-25T10:29:00.003+08:00

2009 is almost coming to an end and tomorrow will be Havynna's last day at this level in her school. At the beginning of this year, I was considering moving her to another kindergarten which is more academic based but have since changed my mind. Few reasons:

- Rowena will be joining her there next year (small reason only and she is not happy about it)
- The school provides an excellent environment for the foundation years
- Harvynna has received raving reviews from all teachers here
- I want her to enjoy her kindergarten years before she starts the daily grind of Primary
school life

I attended Harvynna's Parent Teacher meet last week and I must say I was beaming with pride when I left. Her class teacher was full of praise for her, saying that she is one of a kind and is way above average. The environment at her school is more like an International school, where the way they teach is very different and they emphasise more on a holistic development. I was very proud when the school presented her with a special award for 'Academic Excellence'.

Academic wise, I would not say, that what they offer is very challenging as compared to some of the other kindergartens out there especially the franchised kindergartens. Her school focuses more on grasping concepts and basic skills that are important to develop. Some of the syllabus offered at other kindergartens look more like what is done at Primary 3 level. At this point in time, Harvynna would definitely not be able to do those sort of exercises.

Anyway, judging from what all her teachers had said, Harvynna can adapt anywhere and she catches things very fast. She will do well in which ever school she eventually goes to during her Primary Years. Just to make sure that she is can compete later, I do give her additional workbooks and exercises at home for her to practise. Plus, I did have a look at the Entrance exam my school uses for Primary one level, and I think Harvynna would be able to do it quite easily.

Where will we be sending her in Primary 1? I dont know yet. We did register her with one of the better government schools, but I hear now that the standard has dropped as the teachers are absent more often than the students! Its actually quite a dilemma as I know she can survive anywhere, but I dont want to kill her enthusiasm by sending her to a school where the teachers dont turn up.

International School? I say NO for Primary as I feel that she still needs some grounding in the Malaysian Education system if she intends to work here later. Plus, once you go to an Internatinal School, there is no turning back.

Private school? - Maybe, but there are so many factors to consider.

Rowena? - just confirmed her spot at Harvynna's kindy. She cant wait for January to start school.

Beaconhouse's got talent

2009-11-11T11:22:00.005+08:00

Last Saturday was Harvynna's school concert. It was the first concert for her, so naturally, we were all excited. Last year, the 4 year olds did not participate in the concert. The concert is a combination of the 4 preschools in KL, as well as the graduation ceremony. As it is a combination, I told Harvynna to request a 'BIG' role as they have to combine so many kids into one morning. Dont mean to be so kiasu, but the last thing you want is to see your kid right at the back amongst thousand other kids, holding a tree or something. So she made the request to her principal 'Teacher Helena, I want a big role for the concert. I want to be in front'

So she was selected to emcee the section introducing the 3 year olds. I think she did a great job - no stage fright and the lines came out flawlessly. She held the mic so close to her mouth to ensure the whole Wisma MBSA could hear her!!

Then she took part in the 'Off Schulwerk' performance where she played the recorder. This was one of those were she was like a drop in the ocean. Being the tallest girl in her school, she had to stand at the back!! The perfomance was good.

Then for the Grand Finale, all the kids came out to sing 'Kebemama'. Harvynna and 2 other kids led the performance by standing in front of the mic in front followed by Negaraku. I know all kids at that age sound alike, but i am sure that it was her voice filling the air. Towards the end, she was getting tired, and we could see her looking everywhere and scratching her head!!

The night before the concert, she told me that she was taking part in 3 events, followed by 'Are

you happy now?' Oops. hey, i just wanted the concert to be something to be remembered.

How did Rowena fair during the concert? She got bored after a while, but was excited to see her sister on stage plus she recognized some of Harvynna's friends on stage. She is looking forward to participate in next year's concert when she enrols in the school.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-05T11:01:00.003+08:00

This year's Halloween was rather low keyed as I have been so drained and out of energy. But I am fine now as I have upped my caffeine intake to a state of zombieness! It also seems like there were less Halloween parties this year for kids. The one at Kidzsports, Bangsar Village was on a Friday, and I could not take the day off.

Anyway, the girl's dance teacher had promised them a Halloween dance session on the 31st and they had to dress up for that. So there - a cheap, easy Halloween, where I get to dump the girls for 2 hours.

On the 3oth, Harvynna's school had a Halloween costume day -so all the kids got dressed in their best Halloween outfit. Harvynna recycled last year's costume as the teacher said no one else was dressed as a pumpkin. They had a small party and the kids were happy.

Apparently, Bangsar Village was also having a Halloween thingy, which I only found out on the 30th - so went i asked them if the girls could participate (at 10 that night), they told me' sorry, we are full!'

Anyway, we set out for their dance class at Celebrity Fitness on the 31st, all dressed in their costumes - Harvynna as a Hawaiian Princess and Rowena as a witch. They danced to Michael Jackson's hits, where Thriller was the grand Finale. It was quite funny to see all the kids dancing. As Rowena is the youngest one there, she really does stand out - while everyone moves to the left, she would move to the right and when everyone does a turn on the spot, she turns round the class and when everyone else, moves forward 4 steps, she runs forward 10 steps! Luckily, the teacher has not banned her from the class.

Normally, I would let them do their class, while I go to the opposite studio for my own workout. But this time, the moment their class started, I went downstairs to the concourse and asked if they can squeeze 2 lil girls in and they said YES. So when their class finished at 2.45, I told them, No Yoga today, we are going for the Halloween party downstairs which starts at 3.00pm.

So we rushed down, and the contest started. The girls did not win anything although I was very impressed that they did not have stage fright. Harvynna went up the stage and did a Hula dance while Rowena tried to do some witchmanship too!

The afternoon ended with a trick or treat session where all the outlets in BV1 participated. They received heaps and heaps of sweets, chocolates and lollies - which really made their day.

Pictures to be posted soon!

The Tooth Fairy

2009-10-26T16:14:00.003+08:00

Harvynna's first milk teeth has officially fallen. This is her 'lateral incisor' or her lower teeth. The tooth was already shaking the last couple of weeks. But I told her not to touch it or pull it out for my own selfish reasons - I was afraid the missing tooth would hinder her speech during her story telling contest and her concert. But the tooth could not wait for the concert and decided to fall off. The new teeth was already in place and has grown half way. I can see another new tooth sprouting out 2 teeth away. It's not noticable since it is the lower teeth. I read that a child's milk teeth starts falling from the age of 6.

I told Harvynna that when her upper teeth fall out, I will take a picture and enlarge it. Of course, she wasnt too pleased.

My bodyguard

2009-10-22T10:19:00.004+08:00

The girls can be very protective of her family. Yesterday, I brought back some BM books from my library so she can improve her BM vocabulary. She came across the word 'tiri' and asked me what it meant. I told her 'tiri' means step like step mother. Then she asked me:

Harvynna: Whats a step mother?

Me: A new mummy. Just like if mummy dies, and daddy marries another lady, that will be your step mother

Harvynna: I dont want. I dont like her. I wont go to her house. And she cannot come to my house.

Rowena: I will smack her and kick her.

Harvynna: I will do my tae-kwan-do kick on her, then no more step mummy. Stupid daddy!

Me: :) haha

_________________________________________________________

I told them that later today I will be going out, so daddy will pick them up after work.

Harvynna: Why?

Me: Because I am going out

Harvynna: Where are u going?

Me: Going to KL (as in going downtown)

Harvynna: You already are in KL, so tell me where you are going

Me: Going to KL town to meet my friends

Harvynna: Why

Me: I am meeting my friends from 'xxxx' (my previous workplace). Its good to meet up with them once in a while

Harvynna: Once in a while? Then why daddy meets up with his friends all the time?

Me: ??????????

The Big Bad Wolf

2009-10-09T11:54:00.004+08:00

The girls have been pretty busy the last couple of weeks as my brother and kids were down and Harvynna was preparing for her story telling audition.

We chose Little Red Riding Hood as it was easy to remember, Harvynna was the Big Bad Wolf. She did quite a good job with the story and was pretty confident. I managed to get the costume from my school, where the students previously performed 'Cats the musical'. She refused to wear the wig till she went into the audition room.

And i need to improve on my face painting skills as she ended up looking like a tiger!! She did not allow me to go into the audition room, but I watched her perform through the peep hole and saw that she did perform they way we had practised. She felt like she was at an American Idol performance as there were 3 judges sitting and watching her! They selected 2 winners from the story telling category. Although she did not win, but I am proud of her and it was a good activity we did together.

Rowena, has also memorised the story and is able to do it as she was always there when Harvynna was practising. Now, if they are bored, they will both tell the story together with all the actions.

Anyway, the audition was a good exposure for Harvynna as she will be emceeing the introduction for her school concert in November.

Cousins & Dinosaurs

2009-09-25T10:52:00.005+08:00

My brother and his kids are back from Australia. Some pics of the kiddos at the Dinotrek at Petrosains, KLCC.

Bandung: 7th - 10th September

2009-09-15T11:46:00.007+08:00

We had a short getaway to Bandung last week. The trip was booked some time last year on one of Air Asia's promotions. I have always wanted to go to Bandung having heard of its reputation of being a shopping haven due to its wide range of Factory Outlets.

Bandung is basically a place for Indonesians where the Jakarta crowd flock there every weekend to shop. Luckily we went on a weekday. That, however, did not spare us from traffic jams. The traffic there is horrendous as people just drive any way they want, cutting into everyone's lane. The people there however, are very courtiest and helpful - so different from the way they drive!

We stayed at Grand Seriti Hotel on Jalan Setia Budhi. The hotel was still quite new and the rooms were good. The reason I chose that hotel as it was located near Rumah Mode, which is the best Factory Outlet in Bandung. Having stayed so nearby, we managed 2 trips there. Rumah Mode is a more upmarket factory outlet. Most of their stuff are original, hence the higher prices. The ambience is also nice, with many restaurants within the outlet. One thing good about the bigger factory outlets in Bandung is that they come fully equipped with childrens playgrounds and cafes. My dad was the babysitter and looked after the girls at the playground!

Day 2
We decided to hit Jalan Riau - a famous shopping street where many of their FO's come recommended. We took the Angkutan Kota there as we wanted the girls to have the experience of riding in one. The Angkotan Kota is their public transport in the form of a green van with the doors unclosed. It is also very cheap - Rp9000 for the 5 of us. (kids travel free!). However, during peak hours, they will cramp the van to the max.

Bandung can get really hot at mid day and walking the streets can be quite tiring for the lil ones. We went to:

Heritage - highly recommended but I found it quite disappointing. They carried more local brands and the kids line was not enticing. Had a good indoor playground.

Cascade - like a mall with 3 levels - each level dedicated to menswear, womenswear and childrens wear. Comes with a nice outdoor cafe and a Koi pond. Some good stuff there.

Had lunch and my dad took the girls back to the hotel for a nap. Continued shopping with my mum.

Oasis - So so only. I dont think I found anything there.

The Brands outlet - had a lot of stuff but did not like the way it was arranged. They basically just put everything together and you really have to look through everything. Was also pretty tired then.

The Secret - this was good. Well arranged and had some really good kids stuff. The kids department was at another wing at the back. They carried most of the leading brands. Most of their kids stuff were for kids 5 years and below. Bought some stuff for Rowie there.

We went back to Rumah Mode that night!

Day 3

Rented a car (MPV) with a driver. Highly recommended as it is really worth the Rp400000. This includes the car, driver, petrol and parking, Of course, we tipped the driver for his buka puasa. The driver takes you anywhere you want and is really convenient as we did not have to walk at all. They will wait for you while you do your thing. You can leave all your bags in the car, while you go to the next shopping outlet.

The driver picked us up from the hotel and took us to Tangkuban Perahu, the famous volcano in Bandung. It was definitely an experience for the girls as they had seen pictures of volcanoes in books, and were looking forward to seeing one. Rowie found the place smelly -'so smelly the vaikino' as the sulphur smell was very strong.

After Tangkuban Perahu, which took us about 3 hours, we went back into town and hit Jalan Dago - another famous shopping area. Dago has more factory outlets and shops and looks like a more happenning place. The driver took us to:

Grande - this was excellent. Found stuff for everyone here and the prices were much cheaper than Jalan Riau or Rumah Mode. This place was recommended by the driver. I just told him to recommend some Fos and he made the recommendations. Found lots of stuff for the girls.

Next we went into one of the malls (cant remember the name, to have lunch). Then we sent my dad back to the hotel and Rowie needed to be washed up and changed. After that, the driver took us back to Dago, as we wanted to get the famous 'Amanda brownie kukus'. Bandung is famous for their brownies. They have 5 outlets specialising in these brownies that come in various varieties including serikaya, cheese, marble and many more. And it was really nice. It only cost about RM8 per box. There are also many carts along the roadside selling the same brownies, but it may not be as fresh. There are also other brands with similar packaging selling brownies - but the Amanda brand is of the best quality.(claim the locals)

Next, the driver brought us to Kartika Sari, another bakery famous for the Indonesian layer cake. Although, it tasted good, I thought it was overpriced. So we did not get any. Then we headed to the last FO - Episode, which was also pretty good. Got some gym wear for myself here. By then, we were tired of shopping and headed for a spa. The driver recommended one but once we got there, it was shut. So we thought we will head to the famous Roger's spa and saloon. That too, was closed. So the driver took us to one near the hotel. We were going round town a few times. See - the hired car and driver really comes in useful! The girls had their signature menicure and pedicure.

By the time we finished, it was almost 8 pm and we were really knackered.

Day 4 - had an early flight to catch. So could not do anything besides have breakfast and head for the airport.

Overall, Bandung is a good place to shop especially if you are looking for kids clothings. They even have nice stuff for boys. There is a good selection for men too. For ladies, it is seasonal, if you are lucky, you might go when the new line comes in.

A(H1N1)

2009-08-21T15:23:00.005+08:00

Exhausted. Just drafted and sent out letters and emails cancelling / postponing all events because of the H1N1. Had to be as tactful as possible as am sure some people wont be happy about the cancellations. Since the no of cases was at an all high yesterday, we decided the best move is to cancel all immediate events and postpone all upcoming events.

Harvynna's school started giving hand sanitizers to their students. This is used about 3-4 times a day, even as they enter the school. Temperatures are taken using an infrared thermometer as they come in. Any children with fever with fever or flu like symptoms will be sent home. They also sanitize all door knobs every hour.Luckily, the school holidays start tomorrow. Hopefully, things will improve after that.

2 weekends ago, her school had Lifebouy over teaching the kids how to practice good hygiene and how to wash their hands effectively. Of course, their marketing was so good that she came back telling us how to wash your hands, but you MUST use Lifebouy soap!!

I have a few hand sanitizer myself - seemed to have received them as gifts in some goodie bags before. Must remind myself to keep it in the car or in my bag. I taught the girls how to use them, but Rowena ended up cleaning her face with it. She thinks it some sort of moisturiser. I got Harvynna to explain to her why we use the sanitize and i think Harvynna has been taught well by her school. She told Rowena that there are a lot of germs now causing H1N1 and it is very dangerous. So the sanitizer is used to clean your hands to kill the germs. But Rowena was not bothered. All she wanted was to play with the sanitizer and squeeze it all over the place.

Harvynna at her Lifebouy demonstration in school

Rowena attack

2009-08-20T11:02:00.004+08:00

Rowena is getting naughtier day by day. Sometimes I really give up on her naughtiness that I just tell her ' I dont want to know or I am not interested' which ends up in her 'you dont care about me' drama.

Just the other day, she put the house phone into the fridge before we left for work. And when we questioned her about it later, she just gave us the 'I dont care' look.

This morning she insisted on having chocolate cake for breakfast. After she had finished 2 whole slices, she asked for more and I said no. Then she says' I finished all the cake and ask for more, and you dont want to give me'. Then she pinches me and says 'mm, then you know!'

She just refuses to put on her seat belt in the car so I will brake on purpose (emergency break). She gives me the angry look and says'can you stop doing that'. I tell her 'put on your seat belt and I will stop doing that' and she says 'stop doing that and I will put on my seatbelt'. Aagh.

When we were in Bangsar Village a couple of weeks ago, as we were coming down the escalator, suddently, the escalator came to a halt. I looked around and the lady behind us told us that 'she' pushed the stop button. I glared at Rowena and she pretended to look somewhere else. Later she told me, 'Very good, I pressed the button'

I just enrolled her for Musikgarten. A bit late, as she is the oldest in the class. I stopped her Vital years, as it was just too much of a hassle to drive all the way there on a saturday morning. Have been feeling really exhausted, that I dont have the energy to do anything. This musikgarten class is just around the corner, so it is really convenient. I would love to send her for more activities as she is in clear need of something to occupy her time, but am just too tired. Cant wait till she starts proper kindy next year. Hopefully, that will tire her out.

Hit by the bug

2009-08-11T11:08:00.003+08:00

The bug has visited our home. I was sick last week - lost my voice and a bad cough. Then Rowena felt sick (still is), with fever and a persistent cough, now Harvynna is getting it.

When I sent Harvynna to school, I noticed that the school was quite empty - many children have been absent. Poor Harvynna actually slept through her Taekwando class yesterday as she felt very tired. Today, she hardly touched her breakfast. (something very rare with her). With all the virus and health issues going around, it's quite worrying.

On a brighter note, Harvynna passed her Taekwando exam and now has a Yellow belt. She is quite upset as we told her that Rowena has a black belt! We told her that Rowena goes for Taekwando class everyday while Harvynna is at school, so she progressed really fast. And when we asked Rowena to show us what she 'learnt', she actually showed us some Taekwando moves!!

Sending Rowena Back

2009-08-03T16:24:00.004+08:00

Have posted countless times on how michievous Rowena is. She really keeps everyone on their toes and loves it. If you scold her, she just sticks out her tougue at you or show you an angry face. Sometimes, she tries a different tactic by smiling sweetly at you after doing somthing wrong - and normally, I would smile back but if she has annoyed me, I just glare at her.

Just yesterday, I said, maybe we took the wrong baby home at the hospital as she looks really different now from when she was born. Plus, she does not look like either of us. Many people have commented that Rowena looks Malay. So we just carried on talking infront of her, and said maybe we should return her to her real parents. Her real parents must be having our daughter who is probably very well behaved. And Rowena's face just turned so sad, that tears started rolling down.

I asked her why she was crying and she said 'because you want to send me back'. Then I said, but you always scold us and never listen to mummy. Then she sweetly says 'i love daddy, mummy, and harvynna'. Poor thing. Deep down, she is still a sensitive lil girl, although she seems to show that nothing can affect her.

Bali Vacation - 6th - 9th July

2009-07-10T10:43:00.010+08:00

Backdated.

We finally had a long overdue family vacation in July. I booked this trip a long time ago through one of Air Asia's promotion. Its quite difficult booking in advance as you just dont know what might crop up later.

Anyway, we had our Bali trip flights booked. But being such a last minute person, we did not book the hotel till the day before the trip!! We called so many hotels in Bali, and all of them were fully booked. Luckily, after several searches, we found this really, really nice hotel - the Ramayana Resort and Spa which was right smack in Kuta. It had a really nice Balinese landscape, and was surrounded by trees, which made it very cosy and relaxing. They had 2 pools - so we hung out with the one nearest to our room. The good thing about the hotel is its location at Jln Bakung sari, which was in the middle of everything - a convenient store next door, shopping stalls all around, Matahari Square on the right, all the spas and salons on the left and a short walk to Hard Rock, where we spent the day.

The girls really had a good time and spend a good deal of time swimming and having bubble baths. They found it very tiring to walk due to the hot sun. On the 3rd day, we walked all over Kuta and Legian street but took a taxi back to the hotel as their legs could not take it. Then at night, they got their hair braided (something they were looking forward to) while I had a cream bath for my hair! We all had manicures and pedicures done which made the girls really thrilled.

We did not do any sight seeing as we thought this would be just a break for the girls get away from their normal routine. Plus, it would be too tiring for them.

Now, they are looking forward to their next holiday!

Harvynna's Parent Teachers Meet

2009-05-27T12:18:00.006+08:00

Harvynna's school has really been keeping me on my toes the last few weeks. 2 weekends ago, it was her Sports day, then last Saturday was their Open Day and they had some activities for the 5 year olds (only to find out that me and another parent were the only ones that went!!) and today was the Parent-Teacher meet.

I went in early, so I did not have to take too much time off work. Her Principal had also arranged for 3 parents to be interviewed by NST and as they wanted one from each race, so Harvynna and me were selected!! The topic was on sending kids for extra classes at a young age!

Anyway, Harvynna had good reviews from all her teachers. But then again, I dont think any kindergarten teacher would actually put down any child. Children at this age tend to develop at different paces and all they need is encouragement and support.

However, I did see Harvynna's work and I know that she is a very responsible and diligent student. Her school is not one of those extreme academic ones with exams and stuff - they follow the format of those international preschools which gears children for the International Primary Curriculum. Her teacher gives her extra work as she finishes her work very fast, hence she has an extra exercise book where she does Primary One work.

Her reading in all 3 languages is good, even Mandarin! I checked with the Mandarin teacher and she says that Harvynna has grasped the language well and even corrects her when she makes mistakes! I then heard Harvynna having a short conversation in Mandarin with her teacher. The teacher had always thought that Harvynna's dad was Chinese!! However, she does not have anyone to practise speaking Mandarin to, so she might probably forget it once she goes to Primary school. What a waste!

As for Bahasa Malaysia, she also needs to practise speaking. All the kids in her class come from English Speaking homes, and hardly speak any Malay. I must say that the school's Bahasa teacher is very good as Harvynna went in with Zero BM and has now improved tremendously.

Then I spoke to the music teacher that teaches the 'Off Schulwerk' programme in her school. Harvynna is quite musically inclined but she likes things that are fast moving as she is more boisterous in nature. As such, she wont really like activities like piano lessons or ballet as she will find it too regimented. Something like modern dance will be better for her and she will love it.

Overall, I am happy with Harvynna's school as I like the way they teach and manage the children. I did have my reservations as they are not academically inclined and it may be a problem when she goes to Primary school. But I think that with some guidance, she will be able to cope well as she has the basic knowledge. It is also very important for the parents to play a role in helping their children and not totally depend on the school. I do a lot of activities with her at home to spark her interest. Think I should start sparking Rowena's interest now!

Harvynna and her favourite baby!

Harvynna's school sports

2009-05-18T15:54:00.004+08:00

Harvynna's kindergarten had their school sports last Saturday. It was a joint event between all 4 branches. The theme of the sports day was 'Modus Magus'

As the Bangsar branch was chosen to lead the red house fairy parade (march past), Harvynna and another 3 year old was selected to be the house mascots. Each school had to prepare the march past of different houses and there was a competition. Thanks to Barbara who introduced me to this shop in Kuchai Lama that sold fairy stuff at such a steal. I got Harvynna a set of wings, a wand and a matching hairband for RM6.90. I found the exact same pair in Bangsar Village for RM25 and something similar at toys r us for RM30!! They even had fairy dresses . As I had bought another pair for Rowena, the school borrowed that as well for the other girl.

All the schools had put in a lot of effort. The green team were the nature fairies and all of them had skirts on (made by plastic bags - very creative). I think they were from the Gasing branch.

Harvynna was very excited to be selected as the mascot. I took Rowena downstairs to see Harvynna and also to take some pictures. Rowena being herself, took the opportunity to pull out the flowers that were attached to Harvynna's skirt. Luckily, Harvynna's teacher was able to fix it in time.

It was a long, long day as the kids had to be there by 8.30 and it ended about 12.30pm. As it was a combined event, the whole event kind of dragged on. Each child only takes part in one game as there are 4 schools to consider. So we had to watch match by match and Harvynna's item was towards the end. Luckily her fairy parade was at the beginning of the event. Medals were only given out to those that came in 1st, so the others did not win anything. Unfortunately, the red house did not do very well in the telematch and did not win any prizes. They came out second in the fairy parade. They lost to the yellow house (sun fairies) that did a cheerleading routine!

As expected, Harvynna was very disappointed that she did not win a medal. She said that most of her friends received the 'gold chain' and she also wanted one. So now, I have to find a medal for her as I promised her one.

Rowena's BIG 3

2009-05-07T15:00:00.004+08:00

Late again for this one. My baby Rowena turned 3 on the 25th of April. No longer a baby I guess, but she still acts like one and I am not complaining. She wanted a teddy bear cake as she claims that she is a teddy bear, so we got her one and it was was really nice.

Rowena is very different from Harvynna in most aspects, although she does copy everything Harvynna says and does. Now, she has started picking books and pretending to read them. She also wants to do activity books, but all she does is scribble on them. I dont mind as it makes her feel all grown up. She is not into princesses and stuff - she does not mind wearing anything as long as it looks presentable. She knows her colours now, but is not into learning alphabets and numbers, although she can count from 1-11. She would probably pick this up in school. Like Harvynna, she does not like to watch tv. She somehow knows how to occupy herself.

There is just something about Rowena that has a very soothing effect on me. She is extremely naughty, but the moment I look at her, everything seems ok. Cant pin point on what exactly, but it is just there. I think Harvynna has noticed that too, and feels hurt. There have been numerous occasions, when she says, 'Nobody cares about me' or 'You dont care about me'

My inlaws came down from KK to celebrate Rowena's birthday and lavished them with more gifts. We celebrated and cut the cake at Chillis. Rowena was very happy, as she got to cut her cake and everyone sang for her. So easy to please a 3 year old.

The photos I took came out really bad, need to steal some from my SIL camera.

Harvynna's Big 5

2009-05-05T10:18:00.011+08:00

-very belated post-

Harvynna turned 5 on April 9th. She looks like she is 8, has the height of an 8 year old and wears shoes for a 9 year old!! Academically, I am very happy with her progress as she is doing really well at school. She is also picking up languages really fast. I cant believe that she is 5 and getting all independant. She spends a lot of time in her room reading or doing her work. What is she into now? Princesses, of course.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, PRINCESS! - She is truly our talented, precious princess

Some pictures of her birthday celebration.

Note: The girl next to Harvynna is her best friend, Imani (a really lovely girl) and the boy next to Imani is her boyfriend. Caught her holding his hand and walking many times!!

On her actual birthday, we went out for lunch, took them for a pedicure at Chic Spa, Bangsar Village, then went to Marmalade Cafe to cake. Her main celebration was in her school, where she cut her cake with her friends. I was quite dissapointed with the outcome of the cake, but I had no choice as I had ordered it at the last minute and not many people could do it, being Easter weekend as well. It tasted good, though. Luckily, I managed to order Rowena's cake from the usual person and as usual, it was great - taste and design!

Crazy April

2009-04-21T15:05:00.011+08:00

I looked at my last post and it was almost a month ago. April has been such a busy month with work and birthdays and I am glad it is almost over. Let's see what happenned in April...

April 9 - my hubby's bday

April 9 - David Archuleta's visit to my school

April 11 - My school sports day

April 11 - Small dinner in the house for hubby's birthday

April 12 -Harvynna's birthday

April 13 - Harvynna's birthday party at school

April 18 - My school's Open Day

So there, I have been so busy with all these happening at the same time. And now that it is over, I have finally fallen sick and Rowena's birthday is this saturday.

Since it was such a busy time, I did not do anything for the girls birthday. Since Harvynna's actual birthday was on a Sunday, we went out for lunch and I took the girls for a manicure at Bangsar Village. It was called 'Little Princess'. The girls loved it but of course, it didnt last for more than half a day!!

Then the next day, we cut Harvynna's cake in her kindergarten. Just got a cake organised and some party packs and it was done. She had been looking forward to this all year long.

Dont know what we will do for Rowena's birthday. This year I dont have the energy to organise a party. Will keep that for next year.

________________________________________________________________

My school had David Archuleta over as we had won the Hitz FM's 'Bring David Archuleta' to the school contest. We had to lobby real hard for it as well, as we were not shortlisted from the initial list. So, with one whole week of planning - we convinced the organisers to come to our school as we know we had the facilities to impress them and we had a school wide campaign to bring in the votes. So, we did win the contest in the end, but we were not given the official letter, and we running around to get things organised, without confirmation and we had to keep it a secret as it was supposed to be a suprise visit. At the end, the students put 2 and 2 together and knew he was coming. How could we hide it with Digi coming to set up their booths in the school, and the event management company came in with all the gigantic speakers.

On the actual day, the Hitz Fm crew came in did a GOTCHA on our students. They told them that we had done really well, but came in 2nd, and they had set up the equipment at the other school as well. The winning school got David Archuleta, and we got the morning crew instead. This was received with a lot of booing. haha. Then they finally did a GOTCHA and David came up stage.

I missed this part in the hall as we were in the function room for the photography and autograph session. I must admit he has a really good voice and looks better in person. Our students really went wild. I have never been a big fan, but he kind of grows on you. Now Harvynna and Rowena are hooked on him. They tell me' I know who is david archuleta - he is the american idol runner up', but he is very naughty - gave mummy a lot of work.

Disney on Ice - Princess Wishes

2009-03-23T13:31:00.003+08:00

As an early birthday present, my parents got Harvynna a ticket for the show which was held over the weekend at Stadium Putra. Right until yesterday, I was still debating if I should bring Rowena along (her ticket would be free, anyway), but I dont think she would have stayed for 90 minutes. Not wanting to spoil Harvynna's show, I decided not to bring her. She did not seem interested anyway, and was happy for Harvynna to go. Of course, Harvynna kept showing off and boasting to her about it the last 2 weeks as I told her that we got front row, rinkside tickets which is just infront of the stage. That made her really excited and big headed at the same time. We were really lucky as by the time I went to purchase the tickets, there were only 2 front row seats left.She was looking around the stadium and commenting that everyone else was sitting so far away and probably cant see so well!! Show off!

There were many girls dressed up in their best princess costume, so of course, I got a good telling off from her as I told her that the princess costume would not keep her warm as the place is cold.

The show was really nice, with the props, lighting and music and of course - the beautiful costumes. Harvynna knew all the princesses and was really excited. I bought her a box of popcorn which she happily stuffed her face with throughout the show and refused to share even one with me :( There were many stalls selling all kinds of DOI merchandise at ridiculous prices. I bought the girls a penchant each and a colouring book. I think Harvynna didnt expect everything so colourful and exciting that she was very quiet when we first arrived. She totally enjoyed the show and requested to go again.

I promised Rowena that I would definitely take her if Barney comes to town. So every 5 minutes, she will ask, 'Is Barney here?' Hopefully, by the time the next show comes to town, she will be able to sit still.

Harvynna's Primary school

2009-03-05T13:58:00.003+08:00

Registrations for children born in 2011 into Primary schools started in March. I called up the school we intend to send her to at the end of Feb, and they mentioned that the instruction had already been sent out to the schools. So, I quickly got all the documents needed and wanted to register her as early as possible since the school is one of the few good surviving government schools left, as the teachers are very dedicated since the PTA consists of influential and aggresive parents that are very demanding!!

So, she has now been officially registered and they stamped the back of her birth certificate with the name of the school and she is the 10th student to register. After all the rushing, they told us that the forms are only submitted to the Ministry next year and the acceptance letter will only be sent in July next year!!

I still dont know if sending her to a government school is the right choice with all the complaints and grouses of parents that send their children to government schools. But it is much easier to pull your child out of a government school to a private school than the other way around. I am not so worried with Harvynna as she is quite an independant learner and will survive anywhere. I dont think the large class size and undedicated teachers will work well with Rowena, though. At least, we still have time to consider Rowena's options.

I spoke to Harvynna's class teacher today and she mentioned that I dont have to worry about Harvynna as she is a fast learner and has no problem with all her subjects. she now sings a lot of Mandarin songs as well and tries to teach Rowena how to pronounce some Mandarin words with the different intonations. The only problem is she does not complete her homework. By the time, we get home each day, it is 8 plus, and the last thing she wants to do is her homework. So, on weekends, she has to make up for the whole week's work. She gives all kinds of excuses not to complete them at the babysitter's house like she has to eat, bathe, sleep, play and anything she can think of.

EOE Online

2009-02-26T15:00:00.003+08:00

Since the girls were born, I have taken thousands of photos through my digital camera and camera phone. They are stored in some CD somewhere or online albums and I never really took the time to print them. Mostly, because I am too lazy to go the shop, upload the pictures and collect them later. However, I still feel printed photos are the best as it is a treasured memory.

Now, printing these digital pictures are so much easier through this site.

All you need to do is upload your pictures online at their site and they will print it and send it to your doorstep. It's really affordable too! A 4R print costs only RM0.30 (current promotion) and free delivery* for orders above RM35.00.

Its a good, fast, way to print all those precious pictures.

How do you solve a problem like Ro-we-na?

2009-02-06T16:57:00.004+08:00

How do you solve a problem like Rowena? She is really mischievous, full of energy and does not sit still for even 1 minute. At home, she is constantly jumping, running, climbing, touching things and cannot sit still. Even if she is standing, she will jump on the spot or shrug her shoulders.

She loves to throw things out of the toybox, climb up the table and pull things down from the shelf. Her teacher also told me that she has a very short attention span. When I pick her up from her school, she will be waiting by the door with her backpack on. (that is at least 15 minutes before her class is over) She will quote her favourite line 'I really love it here' followed by 'Come, lets go'. On the way to school, she will start her 'i dont want to go to school. Yucky school'.

I think she really dislikes being in a controlled environment.

Even when she sleeps, she keeps rolling and singing and turning till i have to scream at her. The moment she wakes up, she will look for Harvynna and hit her or pull her hair.

We have this mini play kitchen set at home and Rowena loves to push it down, open the cupboard door and climb inside knowing that it may break. Or she will open up her Dora's dollhouse and sit on the roof, looks at me, waiting to be scolded.

If i take her out, she will run all over the place till i have to scream at her. Dont care if people are looking.

If I scold her, she will come up close to me and say ' Mummy, why you angry with me? What I did?' I loooooove my mummy' and immediately I will forgive her and within 2 seconds, she is back to mischief again.

So, I have cancelled my plan of sending her for speech and drama as she will get bored, also cancelled the plan of sending her to tae-kwan-do or she might beat someone up.

I wonder how this innocent lil baby can turn out to be like this!!

The girls and their school

2009-01-20T11:20:00.004+08:00

Harvynna's school has released their after school programmes. I must say I am pretty impressed with what they offer this year. All the programmes are good, but I chose Speech & Drama by Helen O'Grady and Tae - Kwan-do, which means she stays back twice a week for this. I always wanted to enrol her for Speech and Drama, but due to timing issues, it had to be on hold. I also managed to arrange transport for this with one of the school teachers, so another headache solved. I may send Rowena for Speech and drama at the school as well in April since it is so convenient. Gosh, with these extra classes, the total fees (all in) for Harvynna alone is over RM1k a month and that does not include the babysitter!

Having children in the Klang valley is not cheap at all. One of my staff joked that the amount spent on my 2 kids is equivalent to the monthly installment of a BMW X5. How true!! They better appreciate this!!

I finally have settled the kids activities and school for the year, so am really relieved.

______________________________________________________________

How was Rowena's second day at school? I dropped her off, told her bye and gave her a big hug. She looked a little lost, but I did not stay. When I picked her up, the teacher told us that she looked like she was about to cry but they distracted her with some toys and she was ok. Rowena told me again' i like this school. I really like it here!!'

Harvynna is doing well in school. Her teacher is very gentle with the kids. A bit too gentle, I feel. I am just a little concerned at the math programme they do - it looks too easy for a 5 year old class. Dont want Harvynna to get bored. I know the school is not into drilling the kids as they are montessori based and emphasis learning through play but, hmm, just hope she will be ok.

Yesterday, the children in her class had to talk about their parents. Harvynna came to the front and said, 'My mummy works in xxxxxx'. The teacher asked her, 'What does your mummy do there?' Harvynna was not sure and said ' She is the boss. She sits in her own room'. Then her teacher asked 'Is she the principal?' and Harvynna replied 'No, she owns the school!!!!" Then the teacher asked her 'Where does daddy work?' and she paused for a while ' in the office.... dont know what he does la!!"

Haha. Today the teacher asked me and I laughed. Children always look up to their parents and think whatever they do must be something important!!

So different

2009-01-15T15:21:00.003+08:00

Just looking at the photos, one can tell that the girls are so different. Harvynna is so ladylike and loves to dress up and look pretty. Rowena, on the other hand wears mismatched clothes and finds it really hard to sit down in one place.

Harvynna has really grown up. She will be 5 in April and is now more into her own things. At home, she prefers to go to her room and read her books or do some writing/colouring (with the door locked), play her computer games, or play with make up. She is very independant and a good helper (though she still drives me up the wall!!). She bathes herself and helps bathe Rowena too. She helps to fold the clothes and put them back in the cupboard. She now knows that when she comes home at night, she has to put her school uniform in the laundry basket and prepare her clothes for the next day. After eating, she has to put everything back in the kitchen. I am the evil mother that slave drives the 4 year old!!

What does Rowena do while Harvynna is busy being a lady? She unfolds the clothes Harvynna has folded, she pours all the soap on the floor while Harvynna bathes her. there was once where she threw her bottle of Eubos in the toilet bowl. She jumps on the bed while Harvynna is reading and switches the computer game on and off and on and off while Harvynna is playing. She takes my makeup and makes up the wall, then comes out off the room complaining that Harvynna created all the ruckus.

I do enjoy Rowena's babyness although I cant understand how someone so small can be up to so much mischief. Harvynna has become a like a friend now. I hurt my back at the gym the other day, and she warned me 'You better not do the back kick or you will pull your muscle again' and she will rub my back if she sees I am in pain. All Rowena says is 'Very good for mummy, your back is pain'.

Rowena's first day of school

2009-01-12T15:42:00.003+08:00

After an endless search for a school for Rowena, we finally found one that has classes on weekends at a reasonable price. Most of the weekly classes are so crazily priced ranging from RM350 - RM500 per month for just once a week. At that rate, i might as well enrol her into Harvynna's school with just a little more. So now, I bring her for her class every Saturday. It is a drop off programme for 2 hours.

She learns to read, works on her motor skills to start writing, sings and has some story telling. I guess that is enough for her age. The place is more of a literacy centre for children.I am not too particular about the programme - I just wanted to expose her to some sort of education. This is because, unlike Harvynna, there is absolutely no way I can teach Rowena. I try to teach her colours, and shapes and alphabets but she has no interest. She treats it as a game and is out of there after a few minutes. She loves books, but will not sit down to read or listen to a story. But I have caught her 'reading' a book on her own. She has been listening to me read to harvynna and she remembers the story and 'reads' it on her own.

I was quite surprised that just after a day, she could identify a few words already at the school.

Of course, she was so excited as she has been waiting for this day. She woke up early, packed her bag with books and a lunch box and made sure she had a complete set of books. She was annoyed to see that I had taken out all the books (dont want her bag to be so heavy). She kept screaming ' there's nothing inside'!

Once we reached the school, she immediately went in the classroom with her beloved bag. But she knew that I was outside at the reception area, so she kept coming out to see me and Harvynna kept going in the classroom and intimidating her. After about 20 minutes, Rowena came out with her bag and sat outside folding her arms. She said ' I want you'. I explained that this is a children's class, so mummy cannot be there, plus all the other children's mummy and daddy are not there. She looked at me and said 'then why are you here?'. So I left but she started to cry. The teacher told me to go, and after a few minutes she was ok.

The teacher mentioned that she kept taking her bag and carried it around. Seems to be so protective about that bag of hers.

Hopefully, she will do fine. Am glad to have sorted her school out.

Back to school

2009-01-05T15:13:00.003+08:00

Happy New Year!

Everything starts again today! Harvynna is back to school and she has been looking forward to it. I brought the girls to trim their hair yesterday and we got her a new school bag and tumbler. How exciting for her!

Its back to me rushing around in the mornings. Waking up, bathing Harvynna, changing her to her uniform, preparing her breakfast and her lunch snack, then taking my bath, get dressed, hurry them to the car, strapping them in their car seats, sending Rowena to the babysitter, then sending Harvynna to school, then rushing to reach my office on time as well. Its rush, rush, rush all the way!

She is now in the big girls class. All the 5 and 6 year old students have their classes upstairs. She seemed a little lost in her new class, as it was made up of mostly new students and only a few from her class last year. You can see all the parents standing outside the classroom trying to settle their kids in. I missed this first day last year as Harvynna joined the school mid-way. I did not stay as Harvynna said 'bye - this is the big girls class! Hope she got through it ok.

Poor Rowena really feels left out. She insisted that I buy her a bag too. Feeling sorry for her, i bought her one, which she really likes. She sleeps with it and its the first thing she asks for when she wakes up. "Where my school bag?' She has taken over Harvynna's old water bottle as well. I asked her why she wants a bag and she replied ' to bring to my bokenhouse'. My new class is upstairs and my teacher is Ms Risha. My bokenhouse got swimming pool. They give me fried rice to eat. Last night, she was busy packing her bag with books and her comb!

Today, she hopped out of bed, demanded for her water tumbler, slung her bag over her shoulder and was ready to go. She really looked like she was going to school too. When I dropped her off at her babysitters place, she brought the bag with her. Poor girl, most children this age have imaginary friends - Rowena has an imaginary school.

MERRY XMAS & HAPPY 2009

2008-12-22T12:04:00.004+08:00

Seasons Greetings!!

This will probably be the last post of the year as I will be on long leave after this. The girls are back after being away in Melaka - I have lined up a list of things to be done.

Dont really know what we will be up to for Christmas, but we are looking out for that great turkey dinner. We may have some friends over for the weekend, if plans work out. Other than that we need to get all these done before the stroke of midnight 2008:

Confirm Harvynna's seat in the chosen govt school of our choice. Well, there's always private school, but we need to secure this seat fast as it is a popular school. Plus, who knows what will happen to the economy in 2011

Confirm Rowena's place in her enrichment classes for next year. As we are confirmed a 5 day week employment now, I can happily take her for saturday classes. Have identifed 2. We wont be sending her to school next year.

Pay up Harvynna's school fees for next year. - she will remain in the same school. Fees are steep but we dont have a choice.

Settle my house repayment with EPF

Return all outstanding books to the library

Settle all credit card bills (which have piled up like crazy. Think i can get a Bangsar Village VIP card now, looking at the amount i spent at all their outlets). After that, cut up the credit cards. hehe

Buy Harvynna's school bag and school shoes

Trim both the girls hair

Am happy to have the girls back. So I can start squeezing them again, talking to them and screaming at them.

Merry christmas everyone!!!

Updates

2008-11-25T13:17:00.004+08:00

What has been happenning? Plenty. Cant believe the year has gone by. Let's see what we have done or been up to......

A-Tishoo - brought the girls to see the show at Actors Studio 2 weekends ago. Was really debating if I should bring Rowena as well but I ended up bringing her. Well, she had to live up to her reputation of being Dennis the Menace. We were there early to get the tickets, so just before the show started (about 5 minutes), we went to the toilet and Rowena followed me inside the cubicle while Harvyna entered another one on her own. As usual, Rowena started fiddle with everything and she turned on the tap at the side. The water splashed at her and she was wet from head to toe. I was really speechless as the expression on her face was just just priceless. It was a cross between 'Oh, what just happenned?' and 'Oh Oh, mummy is going to kill me!!' So although I was really annoyed with her, it was quite funny. Luckily I brought some extra clothes. She was still in a state of shock througout the show that she remained quiet and sat on my lap the whole time.

What did I think of the show? - It was ok. No props and dialogue or music, a lot of imagination. I think Aesops Fables would be better.

Harvynna's Parent Teacher meet - Met with her teachers and everyone mentioned that she is a very fast learner and picks up things very fast. She reads well and grasps the BM 'sukukata' very well. She can count 1-100 and does addition and subtraction up to number 20. She is good at Mandarin as well. She prefers to do her work on her own and is quite independant. The teacher has t0 give her additional work to do as she finishes her work very fast. I feel this could also be because, the school encourages learning through play, so most of the activities are quite easy for her. Academically, she is very good but needs improvement in her behaviour!! She does not share with her friends.

Looking at the girls, I think that HArvynna will be the book smart, straight A student while Rowena will be the streetsmart, not interested in studies type of child. Her attention span is really short. She focuses on trying to do the naughtiest things or finding what she can break!!

We still have not confirmed her school as yet due to transportation issues. I better call the school now!

Shopping Woes

2008-11-12T15:49:00.001+08:00

Everytime I take the girls to the mall myself, I end up kicking myself and wonder why I put myself through this kind of torture. Harvynna is quite easy to handle as she loves the mall. The only thing is she MUST have a drink in some café with cake. It cant be the mamak opposite as it has no air conditioning – it has to be a café. Even if she has a hearty meal before that, she will always say, ‘I did not eat much, I am still hungry’ or she will ask me’ Mummy, you haven’t eaten right? Better eat something’

Rowena on the other hand drives me up the wall everything we go out. She refuses to walk properly or hold our hand. She will hop everywhere or just run out of sight, touch and pull everything. Then she gets tired and insists on being carried. If she does not get what she wants, she will sit on the floor and scream ‘Mummy, come here now and carry me!’ I am already fuming mad and dead tired.

Yesterday, we had to go to the Megamall as Harvynna’s school needed a white t-shirt for t-shirt painting. Its really difficult to get a plain white t-shirt nowadays. Even all the cheap ones have cartoons on them. We went to Carrefour, but could not find one, then we went to Kamdar and they only had a long sleeved one. Rowena ran really fast out of my sight and I ran after her and dragged her by her hands, while she yelled and cried and everyone was staring at us. I don’t care what people think but I was so irritated. Harvynna kept saying ‘Rowena is really irritating. Next time don’t bring her’.

Then we went to MNG. She sat on the table where they displayed some blouses. She lifted each one, shouted ‘Stupid, ugly shirt’, threw it aside, picked up another and another and did the same thing. Then we went to the changing room – she opens the curtains of another cubicle.

After that, we went to Seed Café for my dinner while the girls had ice-cream. Rowena did not like the waiter and started fighting with him. ‘I don’t like you. I pinch you and push you’ ‘ I push you in the freezer’ (the cake display). Then she talks at the top of her voice. Luckily, the waiter did not mind so much. Not sure about the other customers though.

As we were walking out, there were some perfume promoters promoting their packages. There was one errr he / she approaching us. Immediately, Rowena said loudly ‘ Mummy, is that a man?’ I said yes. ‘Why he looks like that? Why so ugly? I quickly grabbed her and Harvynna and walked really fast out of that direction. I think she is going to get me beaten up some day!

Vicious Rowena

2008-11-10T12:39:00.004+08:00

I blogged earlier about Rowena a.k.a Dennis the Menace. She really has so much pent up energy that she releases it in weird ways. Now she whines non-stop for something she wants, and just yesterday, she was sitting on the sofa asking for cake or something, and when I refused to give it to her, she started pulling her hair out - literally.

And she bites and pinches and scratches and leaves nasty marks. Harvynna now has a nasty scratch on her face - courtesy of her sister. When I question Rowena, she will just fold her arms and say, 'Always angry with me, never sayang me'. 'I dont like mummy anymore. Yucky mummy' and then i get a nasty pinch.

We went to Asha's place over the weekend. The girls love going there as they think Asha and baby Rekha are their cousins and love spending time with them. Plus, they get to feast on Coke, Chips, nuggets to glory. Somehow, Rowena finds competition with Asha who is only 1 plus and has pushed her many time. Yesterday, she left a really bad scratch on her face and it is so obvious. I scolded her and asked her why she scratched Asha? All she said was' I did not scratch her. I just pinch her only'. I told her she wont be welcomed at their house anymore and she says' 'Never mind, I can go my own self'. Aagh!

Am hunting for some martial arts or gymnastics class for her for her to burn all those energy and channel it towards something useful!!

Kindergarten Hunt

2008-11-07T09:14:00.003+08:00

My kindergarten hunt is almost over as I have finally narrowed it down to 2 kindergartens in Damansara Heights. I did a complete check and visited all shortlisted schools and asked them in detail on their curriculum, methods used, whether it is more academic driven (which I dont want),focus on rote learning (which I dont want too), bridging classes for Primary 1 and of course the cleanliness of the place especially the toilets as Harvynna will never use a dirty toilet. Fees is also an important consideration as kindergartens in this vicinity is definitely a lot higher in price. It does not mean, you pay a high price, you get the best when it comes to preschool education.

Some of the schools have a lower price, but when asked in detail, I realise some of the areas are not covered and instead get the students to go for after school classes, which in the end works out to be more. Some with lower fees also look very run down. After being in Beaconhouse that is very well maintained, I dont think I want Harvynna to go to a run down place as Ms Snob will definitely have an issue with that.

One of the schools is very old. My cousins who are now in their 20s used to go there, but they are very established and have a very dedicated set of teachers. I am also impressed with their curriculum and classes. Character building is also emphasised there. Plus, the teachers at my school mentioned that kids from this kindergarten have a strong reading foundation.

The second school is handled by a new management. Its in a huge bungalow with a pool (with swimming lessons). Its a smart kindergarten and their methods are pretty similar to what we offer at my school. What attracted me is that they offer a mix of montessori with emphasis on English , Bahasa and Mandarin and have bridging classes for the 6 year olds. The best part is they have a fixed extra enrichment class programme daily till 3 which includes Speech and Drama, IT, Swimming, Keyboard.

My only problem now is transport. Transport from Bangsar to Damansara Heights is RM250 a month! So I may have to send her in the mornings and arrange for transportation back. If I really cant find proper transport, I may have to consider letting her remain in Beaconhouse. Sigh! Living in the Klang Valley with no support is really difficult. You just have to pay for everything!

So what do I do with Rowena - decided to sign her up at Kidz Sports and some music classes. She needs to do some activity that will use up her energy as she has a lot to spare! Some of the schools for 3 year olds are more of playgroups with only about 1 and a half hours of structured activities. So I have put her schooling on hold.

Happy Halloween!

2008-11-01T11:27:00.006+08:00

The girls have been looking forward to Halloween this year. The experience Harvynna had at the party last year was great, that she insisted to attend another one this year. This year, Rowena came as well as she looked really adorable in her witch costume. As it was the same costume Harvynna wore last year (and won), I decided to bring them to the Mega Kidz party instead. The costume is really nice. It was a gift from my sister in law. Have to find a different venue next year, if Rowena were to wear it again!

Mega Kidz Halloween Bash is really packed with activities. The 3 hours went by very quickly. Thank God!! or I would have had a heart attack, handling the 2 girls on my own amidst 50 other kids. Most of the kids that came were about6-10 years old as Mega Kidz groups everyone together. Unlike Kidzspots that breaks the groups into 2. So, some of the activities were too much for the younger kids. Both Harvynna and Rowena came out crying from the Haunted House. The trick or treat session was quite fun. The girsl collected lots of sweets. Rowena took the opportunity to do her usual running round inside the stores hoping to collect more sweets.

I knew Rowena would win a prize as her costume did stand out and everywhere she went, the 'judges' stopped her to ask for her number as they were selecting the winners. I was starting to get worried as it would be a disaster if Harvynna did not win. It is really getting quite difficult now, as Rowena gets a lot of attention when we go out. strangers just stop and comment how cute she is, while Harvynna just stands there next to her. I feel so bad for Harvynna as I dont want to cause competition and sibling rivalry. I am sure she feels it.

They called out the winnners from 10th place upwards. Harvynna was happy to be the 5th place winner. She did not know about the placing - to her she had won a prize. Then Rowena was upset, as she did not get a prize and was whining away. I was confident that Rowena will win and true enough, she was the runner up for the contest. So both the girls went back happy and contented. Its difficult having 2 girls as the competition level can be really high!

Harvynna had a Halloween party in school yesterday, and wore her pumpkin princess costume again. Rowena threw a fit, 'why Harvynna wearing like that? I also want. I also want pretty. Where is my dress? and starting rolling on the floor with the biggest tantrum. I put on an old party frock for her and told her it was a princess dress! That kept her quiet.

Trip to Kota Kinabalu

2008-10-17T09:46:00.006+08:00

This is a long overdue post.

We went to KK last month in september to celebrate my father-in-laws 70th birthday. We actually purchased the tickets a long time ago, when Air Asia was offering their free flights. It was a real good deal. The only thing was one month after we had purchased our tickets, MAS announced their cheap flights as well. :( We were preparing the girls about the trip and they have been looking forward to it. the last time we went back was a year ago for my sister-in-laws wedding.

We arrived on the actual birthday, but it was quite late as we took the 7pm flight. We still managed to cut the cake, which of course Harvynna was happy to participate in. Rowena was a little shy at first but Harvynna was excited as there were other kids to play with. She likes being in KK as there is always lots of people in the house and kids to play with - its like there is always something happening. The girls dont have any cousins in KL, as they are in KK and Australia.

The actual party was on Saturday, in the meantime we had to give the girls their shopping fix and we headed to 1-Borneo. We had a day trip to Pulau Manukan as well, arranged by my sister in law and her husband and it was fun. The girls really had a good time playing in the sea and sand. It was the first time Harvynna played in the sea.

On the way to 1-Borneo,we stopped at the Aquarium at University

Malaysia sabah, where my SIL lectures. They had some really huge fish there which the girls were impressed with.Harvynna was sad to leave and we promised to send her there during the next holidays.

Lil Miss Trouble

2008-10-03T15:07:00.004+08:00

I am convinced that Rowena is related to Dennis the Menace. She is really naughty and she enjoys being naughty. Her eyes always light up after she has done something naughty, then she gives you the cutest smile, which makes it hard to get angry with her for long. I recall Harvynna going through the terrible 2's, but she was never as naughty as Rowena. If you scold her, she just glares at you, like its your fault!

Some of the things she does / did are:

I sent her bottle of Ventolin to the babysitter last week, which was supposed to help clear her lungs. she took the plastic bag, banged it on the floor a few times, till the bottle broke and passed the bag to me. I asked her why she broke the bottle and she calmly replied, 'because I am naughty'

She still pulls the toilet paper from its holder.

Whenever, we go to public toilets, she will open the lock or pull down the toilet paper or flush the toilet while i am sitting on it.

She loves to pull Harvynna's hair, pinch her or poke her eyes.

She loves to open the dryer or change the settings when nobody is looking

She has broken half my make up and toiletries.

Switches on, and then off, and then on again - the air-cond in her room

She demands for water ' I want water, I so thirsty' in the most pitiful voice. Then when you give it to her, she pours it on the floor.

There are so many more, but I cant recall. All I know is that she is such an imp!

Sick days

2008-09-29T15:03:00.003+08:00

Both the girls are sick, sick, sick. I dont really know how it started. They were both fine on Friday. Then on saturday, they were still fine. We went out to Mid Valley, and Rowena started coughing and kept asking to be carried. I could hear her panting whenever she talks. So we went back home for her to rest. Once she woke up around 6pm, she cried non stop and was breathing very fast. No fever, though. Gave her some cough syrup and tried to put them to sleep by 8. Harvynna also self-claimed to be sick and started coughing on purpose. By 10, Rowena was really miserable. She cried non stop, did not eat and kept pointing to her mouth, saying it was painful. I looked inside and did not see anything. so she stayed up the whole night - sleeping for 10 minutes, waking up, then sleeping again. This pattern carried on the whole night, so I was awake with her, while everyone else slept peacefully. sigh.

Next morning, she still kept on crying and was extremely clingy. I was at wits ends thinking of a doctor that might be opened on a sunday. I did not want to bring her to a normal GP, as I knew she was quite sick and needed proper treatment. I called my friend who is a paediatrician at Prince Court, and she said that Rowena needed to be put on the neubolizer immediately. Any hospital would be able to do that. Luckily I remembered Dr altaf in TTDI and called them up by chance. Looks like they are the only paed I know opened on sundays. rushed her there, waited for almost 3 hours, as the queue was horrendous. He finally saw her, and confirmed that the passage in her lungs had narrowed and had difficulty breathing. All the phlegm made it worse. She got better almost immediately after the neuboliser. And she said ' Aunty put on my mouth - Nice'. I want go again'.

Early this morning, Harvyyna was coughing non stop and breathing fast as well. She woke up in the morning and got ready for school. After I got dressed, I saw her sitting on the floor, looking so weak. Poor girl. I told her forget school and take a rest at the babysitters house.

Rowena is not happy now that Harvynna is sick, since all the attention has shifted to harvynna. she told her ' NO!, You not sick. I am sick, ok, I went to doctor. You dont take my medifern (medicine)' Poor Harvynna was too sick to reply her.

Time flies

2008-09-26T12:27:00.006+08:00

Time has just slipped by. Its almost October and soon it will be Christmas. But I am glad all the busy, busy times have passed and we can all finally breathe. Things have slowed down a litte where work is concerned as all the major events for the year are over. We went to KK to celebrate My dad-in-laws 70th birthday,plus had a break and fun. We went to Pulau Manukan and it was beautiful. The girls enjoyed themselves in the sun and sea. Its the first time Harvynna actually enjoyed the beach. Normally, she stays away as she thinks the beach is dirty. Rowena enjoyed building sandcastles (or some what) but did not like the water much as it kept going into her mouth. 'I dont yike the water, so yucky, taste like poo poo'.

Harvynna has a long break next week due to the Raya break. It will be her final 2 months at the school as we are planning to withdraw her and send her elsewhere. Where? I still dont know (but have a few in mind) Several reasons why we plan to withdraw her from Beaconhouse is

1. they have increased the fees by 30% which we end up paying about RM700 a month (main reason)

2. their method of teaching is excellent but may not prepare the child into primary school - if you intend to go to some of the better schools, you need to come in prepared and should be able to read well as most of the other kids would come in with a headstart. I have been speaking to a few preschool principals, and I can see so many of them already preparing their kids for Primary 1. 5 year old kids can read books meant for 9 year olds etc. Harvynna can read at the level a 4 year old should, but after speaking to these principals, I feel so inadequate.

3. Beaconhouse has instilled a love for school with Harvynna, so she would be sad to leave her friends. She has made quite a few friends and they love to share stuff in school. She makes me pack her extra food so she can share with her friends. But she is very selective whom she shares with. Only those that share with her gets her share!

Looking around, finding the right school is really a challenge,there are some with a good system, but the facilities are pathetic or look run down, while others have excellent facilities, but the system is not very good and some are just far too expensive. I am not willing to pay RM1000 a month for a preschool education. So the hunt continues........

Also, I think I need to send Rowena to school as well. She has really started to believe that she goes to school. When I pick her up from school, she will tell me,'today i do painting in school, eat noodles and drink rowena, hee hee hee (ribena)'. Everynight, she will ask me' i bring my chocolate to my brokenhouse tomorrow ok. I share with my friends' or sometimes she tells me 'tomorrow I got gym, My gym on Monday and Friday'. Sounds funny, but is quite sad actually. Poor gal.

A Blog Break

2008-09-08T13:13:00.003+08:00

ON A BLOG BREAK

- so many thing to do...... so little time -

Things they say....part 2

2008-08-27T13:55:00.002+08:00

The girls are back and they house is full of life again. No more lonely car rides. I am once again, entertained with their chattering.

They love playing, Spot the Petrol station. Everytime we pass a petrol station, they will shout 'Petrol station, I saw first' and we pass another one, and it goes on and on. Both cannot look at each other's side or they will be subject to some hair pulling or pinching incidents.

The other day, they were playing grown up and Harvynna told Rowena:

H: I be the mummy, you be the daddy
Rowie: No, I be mummy
H: No, you be the daddy, because daddy does nothing, just sit down, so very easy for you
Rowie: Ok

(haha)

Rowena's favourite song now is:

5 little monkeys jumping on the bed
One fell down and bumped his head
Mama called the dr
No more monkeys jumping on the bed (I think she missed out a line here, but I cant figure what it is)

She sings this while jumping at the edge of the bed.

Things they say...

2008-08-20T09:09:00.004+08:00

It's the school holidays now and the girls are not here. They have gone on their holiday while I have mine here!!! The house and the daily car rides to work are so quiet. But I am kind of enjoying the quiet time. I think they too, need a break from me - have been so stressed out and screaming at them a lot!! Can't wait for them to be back and hear they things they say.

Rowena's famous lines:

Mummy's office is in Koto Sarasara (2 guesses where that is)

I pinch you, i bite you, i push you (agressive girl)

Dont give Awa (Harvynna) cake ok, she fatty girl

Surrprise, say please (when she wants something)

Tomorrow you buy for me this ok, dont give Awa

Haha, mummy washing your soap off (when I bathe Harvynna)

I dont want this one, very ugly (when she does not get what she wants)

Harvynna's famous lines:

Please, please dont bring Rowena!

I going to ask Aunty Kuldeep to bring me to my Beaconhouse (when I tell her I am going to change her school next year)

Mummy, just say this, just bluff her ok. (when she does not want Rowena to find out something)

I accidently ate the last cake (when she brought 3 cakes home, one for me, 2 for her, and daddy asked her why she did not bring for him)

Can you just feel the sisterly love!!

I bought them one of those sets where you can bathe the baby from Toy's R Us and they love it. They can play with it for hours. They are into dolls right now. Anyone knows where I can get a walking doll?

I had enough!

2008-08-14T13:25:00.003+08:00

Gosh, its been more than a month since my last post. So much has happenned during this time. Firstly, I was sick for about 3 weeks, down with viral fever, took a dose of antibiotics that was too strong, ended up with mouth ulcers and a gum infection. The girls were sick at the same time, both down with mouth ulcers and high fever. I still had to go to work, despite being as sick as a dog as we had a major event last weekend, and I was working late everyday. So now, I feel so drained, tired and seriously need a break, till I found out we have to do another event in 5 weeks time. Great!

At the same time, I feel a bit pissed with some people. While talking to someone today, I told him ' Who needs enemies, when you have relatives!' They either impose themselves on you by telling you what to do, without offering any help whatsoever, or they pretend to be concerned about you, while slowly stabbing you in the back or sabotaging you. Thats another story altogether.

On to happier news, Harvynna went for her 2nd field trip today to the High 5 bread factory. She has been so excited about this for weeks. The last time they went on their field trip, they had lunch at McDonalds.

She is really shooting up - I suddenly notice her pants and dresses getting too short. More clothes for Rowena then! Rowena is the reverse, she does not seem to be growing tall. She lost so much of weight when she was sick, and seems to have got shorter as well.

Rowena is one big chatter box now, she sings many nursery rhymes and speaks as well (well, almost) as Harvynna. She loves to dance and make all kinds of facial expressions. She really seems to think that she goes to school, so when I ask her what do you learn in school, she will reply 'ABC, dance, songs, bubbles and 8,9,10)

Anyway, am off to another meeting now (story of my life!)

Does Harvynna have HFM?

2008-07-11T16:00:00.005+08:00

When we went out for birthday dinner last weekend, Harvynna felt down and hurt her lip, but it was just a bruise and it turned red. A couple of days later, the bruise turned into a blister and hurts her. Yesterday, when I took the girls out for dinner, she told me that she cant eat because her tongue hurts. Apparently, the maid at the babysitters house told her that there are 'bengkak' on her tongue.

I checked her tongue and saw about 3 sores on it and she finds it difficult to eat. In the meantime, she had fever for 2-3 days especially at night and a cough, which I thought she had caught from Rowena. She was also tired and wanted to sleep early all the time which is really unusual with her.

I checked her hands and feet and her whole body but there was nothing there. So I am wondering if it is HFM as she does have the symptoms. Or is it from the fall?

I took this except from the ever famous Dr Greene and this is what he says:

(I highlighted in green what I can see in her)

Introduction:A miserable child who has lost interest in eating solids? Perhaps the child has hand-foot-mouth disease.

What is it?

Hand-foot-mouth disease is a common childhood illness featuring mouth sores,

fever, and a rash. Similar-sounding “foot-and-mouth disease” is a disease of cattle and is not related to this condition.Hand-foot-mouth disease is usually caused by a virus called coxsackievirus A16. However, many children with coxsackievirus A16 infections do not have all of the features of hand-foot-mouth disease. Some have no rash, some have no mouth sores, and some even have no fever. A variety of other viruses in the Enterovirus family can also cause hand-foot-mouth disease (the coxsackieviruses are enteroviruses).

Who gets it?

This disease is most common among young children but is seen with some frequency up until puberty. Adults can get it, but this is much less common. Once people have had coxsackievirus A16 they are generally immune, but they could get another case of hand-foot-mouth disease from one of the other, less common viruses. Most infections occur in the summer or early fall, with the peak between August and October in the northern hemisphere.

What are the symptoms?

Children with hand-foot-mouth disease usually start to feel crummy 3 to 7 days after they were exposed. Often, the first thing parents notice is their children’s decreased appetite for solids. Children may also have a fever and a sore throat. A day or two later, many children develop sores in the mouth. They begin as small red spots on the tongue, gums, or mucous membranes. They may blister or form ulcers.A skin rash may also develop over a day or two, with flat or raised red spots. Unlike with many rashes, the spots are often found on the palms and soles. Also, it is common to have the rash on the buttocks. Often, the red spots will form tender blisters (although not on the buttocks). Unlike with chickenpox, the rash does not itch.Usually the rash disappears and the child feels better within about 1 week.

How is it diagnosed?Usually the diagnosis is made based on the history and physical exam. Lab tests are available for the coxsackieviruses and other enteroviruses, but they are not usually necessary. Hand-foot-mouth disease is sometimes confused with strep throat, which can also begin with a fever and sore throat. It is sometimes mistaken for chickenpox because they both have blisters. It might be confused with any of the childhood exanthems. Also, many children with hand-foot-mouth disease are diagnosed with ear infections because the eardrums may appear red.

How is it treated?

Antibiotics do not help with hand-foot-mouth disease. The important issues are pain relief and plenty of fluids. Cold liquids and popsicles can be soothing for a child’s sore throat.

As different as night and day

2008-07-10T11:43:00.004+08:00

Here's Rowena who is not afraid of anyone or anything, dares everyone, scolds everyone and if I scold her, she says 'You better watch out'........

and here is Harvynna, who is a little princess that always wants to look pretty and needs lots of attention...... (check out the overload of accessories)

More on the girls

2008-07-04T12:15:00.005+08:00

Seem to blogging about Rowena - her antics, her misfortunes etc and I realise that I havent said much about poor Harvynna. Sigh!

She is now 50 months but behaves like she is 500 months . She is very very sensitive now, a real fighter cock and likes to argue about everything. Really gets to me sometimes as she seems to have an answer for everything. All the previous threats carried out to scare her does not work anymore as she knows its just an attempt to scare her. This morning as she was getting ready for school, Rowena disturbed her and she told her very sternly, 'I am getting really fed up of you. I am going to leave the house soon'.

The other day, I told her that if she is naughty, I wont pick her back from the babysitters house, and she replied 'never mind, when you come and pick Rowena, I will quickly come in the car'.' and she argues with what ever i say, but its quite funny sometimes.

Rowena is also another one. I hoped the lift incident would scare her a little but obviously it did not. When she was monkeying around, I told her remember what happenned in the lift?, you want to jam your hand again' and she said, 'yes, come lets go'!!!!'

Yesterday, we went out to eat, and she knocked down daddy's drink and got a good yelling from him. She just glared at him, and said ' I dont want you anymore, your shirt very dirty. I want mummy'. After a few more glares, she said 'I going to Melaka ever ever ever - I dont want you'

Gosh, what brats!! Tomorrow is my birthday, and I asked the girls what they were getting me, and Rowena said, she will get me a durian cake (as they hate durians) and Harvynna says she will get me shoes from Giant!!!! Well - its the thought that counts

Everything's going up

2008-07-03T18:11:00.004+08:00

Eversince the announcement of the fuel hike, everyone has taken the opportunity to increase their prices as well. Nothing comes cheap anymore. Eating out is overpriced - one miserable piece of chicken at a mamak stall cost RM3. Huh?

Yesterday, Harvynna's kindergarten informed us that they will be increasing their rates by 30%. That;s a serious increase and with minimal notice. I asked them why the increase, and their lame reason was ,'oh, we have not raised our prices in 4 years, and with everything going up, so we also have to increase'. Not just the fees have gone up, the meals, uniforms, everything has gone up too.

So, how does a single income or low income family in the Klang valley survive? No wonder the crime rate is going up.

And to think,I was faulted for choosing this job that pays higher (significantly higher), just because I have to work on alternate saturdays. Well, I actually like working on saturdays, as I get to do all my reports, and planning with minimal interruptions. I even go to the school library to borrow books for Harvynna on saturdays as weekdays are just crazy. I even brought Harvynna to my office once and she loved it. I have chosen this job, and I love it, my boss is great, my staff are great and the environment is good.

I was faulted for choosing money over my family. Excuse me - with less money, and the rising cost of everything, I think I would have sacrified my family by taking the other job. At least now, I can buy them whatever they want without taking twice. The other job, actually meant taking a pay cut from my previous job!! So tell me, is that the dumbest move or what!! eeesh, I really hate people that try to meddle in your life without knowing the facts.

Its been a bad week

2008-07-01T13:34:00.002+08:00

The week has barely started and it has been hassle after hassle. Hmm - they say, that sometimes, you have to get it all out of your system - a cleansing of the negativity.

As I was getting ready to leave for work yesterday, I woke Rowena up, and she just could not wake up. She could hardly open her eyes and was very weak. Then I carried her to the front door, and she sat on the floor, and cried asking me to carry her. So there I was, with my handbag, my gym bag, my lunch pack, Harvynna's bag, Harvynna and I had to carry Rowena all the way to the car. I was annoyed as she was being so dependant. Now I feel bad for feeling that way.

Once we were in the car, Rowena slept off almost immediately. Once we reached the babysitters house, I carried her to the house, and she threw up twice. Then sat there so helplessly. My babysitter knew something was wrong, and gave her some water. She told me she would call me if she got worse.

Just before lunch, I called and she said Rowena had been sleeping since I dropped her - so unlike her, where she does not sit still for one minute. I decided that I have to bring her to a doctor. Of course, both the paeditricians at Damansara Specialist were on leave. (I only trust Dr Musa and Dr Vasantha - the others dont come recommended) What great timing. The paed near my place was on leave a lot lately, so I did not want to go all the way back.

Finally took her to Dr Azam at Pantai Hospital. Again, recommended, for Pantai, see Dr Azam. Since it was almost 1, most of the private clinics would be closed. When we reached there, we had to wait for over an hour, as he was out for lunch. By then, Rowena was back to her usual self. Anyway, the dr mentioned that she had some krepitations in her lungs due to some infection and a very bad, red throat. He was quite surprised that she was still active as most children with the same condition, would be very ill and worn out. He says it would take about 5 days to heal and gave a whole range of medicines. I am quite impressed with Dr Azam - he is really good with kids and explains very well. Dr Musa is very good, but he always seems to be rushing, which can be quite irritating sometimes. Just that, he has a very good hand with kids and can cure any child.

After everything was settled (about 3 hours), I was only too happy to leave. While in the lift, Rowena got really active again, and was pressing the buttons on the lift when............. the door opened and slid right through her hand. My God, her whole hand was stuck between the door and she was screaming. I tried to pull it out but it was stuck. What a child unfriendly lift for a hospital!

Immediately, the nurses came, called security, and everyone came rushing, slowly they got her hand out, there were bruises and cuts, and without asking me, said to rush her to the emergency department to check her hand. The dr and nurses cleaned her wound and said that an xray should be done to check that nothing was broken. Rowena was in shock and kept calling for daddy. Thank God, the xray came out fine but the swelling was still there. What an ordeal for everyone.

This morning, I had a flat tyre. Was wondering why everyone was honking at me. I knew the car felt funny when I took it out this morning. My hubby used my car last night and got a nail in it. So pissed off as I had the girls with me, so I just cant stop anywhere for their safety. Finally slowly made my way to a petrol station in Bangsar and they changed it for me, while the girls sat in the car. Luckily, they were in a good mood. There were some police cars at the petrol station and they came standing around my car making stupid jokes. How annoying!

Harvynna said, 'Ask daddy to use his own car next time'. Yes, well said!!

All night long

2008-06-25T17:09:00.003+08:00

I wonder why many parents are so eager for their child to start talking. Coz once they start, they dont stop.....ever.... even if its all night long.

2 nights ago, Rowena woke up at 3am. she probably thought it was morning already. So she insisted on

Rowena: I want brush teeth
Me: NO
Rowena: I want manni (mandi - bathe)
Me: No
Rowena:I want cake
Me: NO

Then, she starts singing all kinds of songs and talks to herself. then she decides she wants to have a conversation with me.

Rowena: mummy, mummy, you know yesterday the foggy came (fogging)
Rowena: the foggy shooot like that
Rowena: then we go room and quickly close the door
Rowena: the foggy bau bau like that (very smelly)
Rowena: mummy, listen ,listen (while slapping my face).... then starts the same story again and again and again.

After a while, she got fed up and said, 'why dont want to sayang me, so bad then!' - well guess where she learnt that from.

Since no one pays attention to her, she starts kicking Harvynna, then tells the baby in the cake ladies house story....

Rowena: the baby in cake lady's house sooooo good - never drink mummy's susu - only drink from bottle and a whole lot of other stories...... all this at 3 in the morning on a week day!!

Last day of School

2008-05-23T13:12:00.003+08:00

Today is the last day of school for the term. Harvynna's school normally has a class party on the last day. All the children get to wear their favourite dress and there will be games, activities and dances going on the whole day. She has been looking forward to this party, planning what to wear and what to bring. She was the one to wake me up this morning telling me that its her party day.

She wore her current favourite dress as she says it is a princess dress since it twirls round when she turns with her sparkling princess shoe.

She wanted to bring marshmallows for the party so I managed to get some jelly filled marshmallows. She does not want her classmates to eat them claiming that then, she wont have any to eat. Hmmm, she still has not mastered the art of sharing. I told her that you have to share, as it is a party. There is no point of having a party if you are going to eat all by yourself. So she actually counted the marshmallows to ensure she gets some for herself.

Parent teacher meeting

2008-05-22T16:10:00.004+08:00

Today was Harvynna's Parent teacher meeting at Beaconhouse. Its done twice a year before the end of the term. I went as early as possible so I could be the first......and I was. Talk about being kiasu. But there were more kiasu parents than me. They were practically running to the office to get a better number. How I wished they fell down the stairs or something.

The meeting with the teacher was good and she received a very good report. I am actually very happy with the school as within one month, Harvynna was able to write words in both CAPITAL letters and small letter, write 1-100, do simple math and picked up some proper B. Malaysia words. The teachers commented that she picks up things very fast and is more advance than some of her classmates that came in in January. I guess it helped that I taught her at home. She was able to write her alphabets only in Capital letters, as she did not want to listen to me teaching her the small letters.

She also got quite good reviews on her Mandarin and was said to have good interest in learning new languages. She is also very independant and sociable,and always asks questions and contributes well. Am so proud of her.

She does not tell me on a daily basis what she learns at school and only gives me selective information. I also saw some pictures of their activities and saw her making monkey faces or showing the peace sign while everyone else was posing nicely.

I was a little apprehensive about Beaconhouse as they do a lot of learning through play - which is not a bad thing, and is in fact encouraged in the west. But looking at the KBSR syllabus, it is no surprise that many students find it difficult to cope especially with Bahasa Malaysia if they do not speak the languague at home.

I did mention this to the teacher and apparently many parents have commented on this, hence they have more worksheets and workbooks used now. I mentioned the skills tested during entrance exams to private schools and they are aware that they need to cater their syllabus for this as well. Ha, it pays to work with a private school so I get all the insights of the Malaysian education system.

I look at the students in my school and they are really exceptional. You just pick any one of them and talk to them and they are all so confident. Just yesterday, we had an event, and 2 students were selected to emcee the function. They were given 3 hours notice amidst attending classes. They came to my room in the morning, I ran through the script with them and they did an excellent job, putting many adults to shame. I guess all the Structured Performing Arts and interactive learning model really paid off.

I am glad to have put Harvynna in Beaconhouse. She really, really enjoys school too and in fact a big punishment to her will be not to send her to school. I use that to threaten her if she misbehaves which is all the time.

Now, I only feel for poor Rowena. She never really did get all the teaching and preparation for school as whenever I try to do anything with her, Harvynna will just push her aside and take over. So there was no proper introduction to alphabets etc. All she gets is 'secondary' information when I do things with Harvynna. But then again, looking at how fast Harvynna picks up things in school, I am sure Rowena will catch up as well once she goes to school.

Terrific 2 speaks

2008-05-20T13:05:00.003+08:00

Now that Rowena is so much more vocal, I really wonder if that is a blessing or otherwise.

Since she got it properly for pulling the toilet paper out, now, whenever she goes to the toilet, she will look at the toilet paper, pause for a few seconds then say,

Rowena: That day daddy beat me
Me: Why did daddy beat you?
Rowena: Because pull tisu, then daddy sco (scold) me
Me: Why did you pull the tissue
Rowena: Because daddy beat me (????!!!)
Me: Do you want to pull the tissue now
Rowena:No, then daddy beat me

On another occasion:

Me: Mummy is angry with you
Rowena: Why you don want sayang me
Me: Because you are naughty
Rowena: Then I dont want be your friend
Me: Good

If daddy is back late

Rowena: Why daddy dog dog aways come late?
Me: Dont know
Rowena: He go awopane ah? Flyyyyyy away

Yesterday, she was so cute

Everyone was sitting on the bed, and suddenly, Rowena goes pppooooooooot!

Everyone: ROWENA!!!!
Rowena: Acus me!

The terrific 2s

2008-05-12T16:37:00.002+08:00

Rowena is simply getting naughtier by the day. Blame it on the Terrible 2s or I call them the 'Terrific 2s', I guess. She gets up to her mischief in a sweet way that its quite hard to get angry with her. Some of the things that can drive me up the wall:

- loves to go into the bathroom and pull down the toilet paper till it all comes off the roll
-loves to follow anyone to the bathroom and offer 'tissue tissue' with her sweetest smile and then the disaster happens
- loves to wash her hands repeatedly, while getting her clothes wet
-refuses to get down from the car when we reach our destination. Instead, she will run to the front seat, go back again, then front again till she gets stuck somewhere
-refuses to come when you call her - will stand far away or run off somewhere else while giggling
- runs off when you least expect it
- goes into the rooms and locks herself in
- insists on changing her clothes when Harvynna is changing. If I say no, she will remove everything including her diaper and throw her clothes far away
-pull her sisters hair if she does not get what she wants
- switches off the tv if she is not getting any attention
- lies down on the floor in public just to get attention

If I show her that I am angry, she will smile and say in her cutest voice 'sorry mummy' and then do it all over again.

Tender moments

2008-05-07T13:04:00.002+08:00

Whenever I am running late, I will drop Harvynna off first at school, with Rowena in tow and then drop Rowena off at the babysitters.

Just yesterday, we were a little late, plus Rowena told me in the house that 'I want go Awa school, ok?' and mentioned a couple of times in the car 'going awa school, right?' (she loves to end her sentence with 'right?')So I thought why not - although its quite a hassle as parking at Beaconhouse Bangsar is a nightmare, as you have to go through a lane and its quite difficult to turn and come out.

When we reached Harvynna's class, Harvynna gave Rowena a big hug and said 'Bye Rowie, I see you later ok - you be a good girl!" and kissed her a few times. Rowena also gave her a few flying kisses, and said 'Bye awa, see you'. All her classmates and teacher were watching them and said 'Ooh, so loving' not knowing what she said earlier in the car "I dont want Rowie to come to my school. She is a smelly girl. She did not shower'

The principal met Rowena outside and asked her if she was having a sneak preview. haha.

I am quite happy with the school as Harvynna is very happy to go to school everyday. She seems to enjoy it, although I am not too sure what they really do in class. They are having a Parent Teacher meeting at the end of the term and perhaps, I will find out then. I can see that she is good with her mathematics. She told me that she and another girl got a stamp on her hand the other day as she had done well in her math. Thats good to know as i hear they are raising the standard of readiness test in certain private schools.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROWENA

2008-04-25T17:04:00.005+08:00

Princess Rowena is 2 today. She is still our cuddilicious baby, just more aggresive and grown up. Rowena is quite independant (must be the second child syndrome) and very easy going. She does have her moments but most of the time gets away with just being cute. She has a very lovable personality. I really cant keep up with what she does now as she always has something new and mischievous to do all the time.

Happy 2nd birthday darling Rowena!!

Gymboree

2008-04-23T09:37:00.003+08:00

I was looking high and low for an enrichment place where I could send both girls together and Gymboree was the only place that had the sibling programme. It worked out very well as Harvynna's class was a 2 hour drop off programme while Rowena's was during the same time as well. (at that level at that time). So, after looking at all the packages, the management advised me it was best to sign up for the 1 year programme as it would be most beneficial since I will be sending 2 girls.

They calculated it out and it seemed like you get a real good deal and the classes end up much cheaper. (when in fact it is not). You get a total of 48 plus 4 free classes in the package and they worked out a timetable for me where I get 12 of each, play, music, art for both girls. And the 1 year package can be used for all programmes, so they claim it is really worth it. Plus, they kept emphasising that it is really good since both girls will be there together.

So on the day of the 1st trial class, they commented how advance Rowena is and she responds very well in the play class and she should be able to do the music class soon as she seems musically inclined and bla bla bla. So of course, I signed up!!!

In the 1 year programme, you get 52 classes, 1 t-shirt(of poor quality), waiver of annual fee for the following year, 10 play gym vouchers (which nobody uses), RM200 off birthday parties. So what they do is, they add a value to all these things and pro-rate the cost of each class which looks really really cheap.

After 2 months, I decided to enrol Rowena to do the music classes, and they said,'Oh, she has not done enough play to do music. Its still too early, she must do more play first or she will be lost in the class!!' I thought ok, and subsequently converted all the music into play classes.

The girls were really consistent in their classes, missing them occasionally only. About 5 months into the programme, they tell me that we are running out of classes as we have utilised most of them. There were about 5 classes left between the both of them and Harvynna does not have any more art classes. I told them to convert the play into art and they said we cant do that as 1 art class is equivalent to 2 play classes. I was already getting really mad here as they told me to sign up for another year!!! I told them no way, as once Harvynna starts kindergarten, I want her to rest on weekends and they came up with this crap that she can attend during school holidays. ON top of that, HArvynna's and Rowena's classes are not at the same time now as Rowena has moved to a different level. I am not going to go there once in the morning and once in the evening and they just looked at me.

Another thing was HArvynna normally finished about 20 minutes before Rowena's class ends. And being a child, she will play on the play equipment by herself as I have to accompany Rowena for her class. The management commented that Harvynna cannot play on the equipment as the smaller children will be intinmidated. They told me to bring a helper to watch Harvynna while Rowena's class was going on. I told them the reason I signed up for Gymboree was because of the sibiling programme.

So i am really mad with the management and since there was a rebate on the birthday party, I decided I must do Harvynna's party there. Oh yes, when signed up, it was August last year and from the record they saw that the girls birthdays were only in April. So they told me just to throw any party, does not have to be a birthday at that time and i said no way.

For the party, it is for max 12 children. You are basically paying for the 1 hour class they do, which is really good. They include a party pack, but I was really ashamed of the party pack. They did not tell me that all they put inside are their brochures, timetable, i free trial class voucher, 2 small stickers, 1 mask and one blower!!!! If I had known earlier, I would have done my own party pack.

They are really strict about the time. They start sharp at the time stated and of guest are late, they will just minus the time of the programme as they end sharp on time too. Imagine having the poor children rush to eat within less than 30 minutes, and they keep telling everyone they have to close and everyone has to leave (we took the last party of the day). How rude! I felt really embarassed for my guests.
Some of the kids played on the play equipment and were shooed away. Kids will be kids. and Gymboree is supposed to be for kids.

Gosh! no more gymboree. I think the management at the Bangsar Village outlet really sucks!

Harvynna attended Musikgarten when she was 2 and comparing both programmes, musikgarten definitely outshines Gymboree. Gymboree is good to develop social skills, but I found Musik garten more interesting.

Mary Anne's party

2008-04-23T09:22:00.006+08:00

We attended Mary Annes 3rd birthday party on the 6th of April. (the week before Harvynna's party) This is her 3rd birthday party we attended. Mary Anne's mum and me used to be colleagues and had a real crappy boss!
We keep in touch by msn and email or sms but only meet up twice a year in April - for Mary Annes and harvynna's birthdays!!

Harvynna's birthday

2008-04-15T14:26:00.008+08:00

Our little princess turned 4 last saturday - 12 April. She was really looking forward to her birthday and since it was a saturday, we decided to have something for her. It was so last minute and unlike previous years, I really did not have the time to do anything as I have a really big event this weekend for work.

We had the party at Gymboree with very close friends. The kids had fun with the activities - lots of jumping around, dancing and screaming. I am however, not happy with the Gymboree management (will blog about that later).

The cake was really yummy, especially the icing. I just love those butter icing cakes. The party this year was a real kids party - nothing for the adults. But as kids get older, thats what they want. I think Harvynna and Rowena enjoyed themselves. Rowena was in top form that day while Harvynna was really excited.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY PRINCESS!!

Daddy's birthday

2008-04-15T14:22:00.005+08:00

Some pics of the birthday dinner at American Chillis Mid Valley. The girls were having a good time running around the place and disturbing other diners!!

Daddy's birthday

2008-04-15T14:22:00.001+08:00

Beaconhouse or brokenhouse?

2008-04-02T16:23:00.004+08:00

No. I have nothing to complain about the school but that's what Rowena thinks her school name is. I asked Rowena yesterday,

Me: Does Rowena want to go to school?
Rowena: Yes
Me: Whats the name of your school
Rowena: err errr
Harvynna: her school is broken house
Rowena: oh! boken ouse
Me: Whats the name of your school Rowie?
Rowena: Boken ouse.

Poor gal - she always gets sidelined by her sister.

When reading her favourite disney books on Snow white, I will point to Snow White and ask her

Me: Who is this?
Rowena: Awa (harvynna)
Me: Who is this? (pointing at the dwarf)
Rowena: Rowie. Rowie duwaf

I think Rowena is feeling a little left out since all the attention is on Harvynna going to school. We bought Harvynna a school bag yesterday, and Rowena kept asking me' Mummy, where Rowie bag? (while pulling the other bags in the shop?

This morning, when she woke up, she saw her sister dressed up carrying her bag. So she asked
'Mummy,where awa going?
Me: "Harvynna is going to school'
Rowena: Oh, going school
Me: Rowena wants to go to school?
Rowena: No, Rowie baby

Anyway, today was Harvynna's first day at kindy and she was really excited. I packed her a new pencil box with some colour pencils to take along. I prepped her in the car that this is just like Gymboree, where it is a big girls school and daddy and mummy cannot go. So when I left her, she just said 'Bye mummy - see you later' and the teachers were impressed andthat she did not shed a tear for the 1st day. I am a bit worried though as she had to learn Mandarin today and having joint the school late, she might find it all a bit daunting as she has no clue what Mandarin is all about. I guess children adapt faster than we think.

We will see how it goes - shall ask for her adventures later.

Harvynna starts school

2008-04-01T17:50:00.003+08:00

Harvynna starts kindy tomorrow - 2 April 2008. We were planning to send her this year but I had to put it on hold as I was changing jobs, and could not decide which offer to take (which means totally different locations). Now, I have selected the job and Harvynna starts at Beaconhouse Bangsar. She is excited but not as excited as me. Cant believe our little girl is starting school.

She will have to come back to the babysitters house in a van. The transport rates are so expensive - from Beaconhouse to Lorong Maarof, which is just one row behind cost RM70 one way. How crazy is that. Before, she can sit comfortably, it will be time for her to get off.

They have run out of uniforms, so she will have to wear her own clothes for now. She has a field trip to the Fire Department on the 9th.

April is such a bz bz month - we are having Harvynna's birthday party on the 12th - just a small one compared to last year. Since her birthday falls on a saturday, we have to do something.
Harvynna wants a mermaid cake and Rowena wants a rat cake, but now she wants a rabbit cake after seeing the rabbits at the Easter thing they had at Bangsar Village. I have not ordered the cake, nor the food nor invited all the guests - really disorganised this year.

ROWENA AT 22 AND A HALF MONTHS

2008-03-12T13:52:00.002+08:00

its been a while since I blogged but I think i better pen down some of the things Rowena says and does., before I forget. Now, that Harvynna is away in Melaka, Rowena is really the princess of the house and enjoys every single minute of it. She still looks pretty much like a baby but her face is filling out now and seems to have lost some weight. Her hands and legs are slimmer and longer. I think she needs to get into a size XL diaper anyway. Her bow legs have straightened out. Thank god for that. I think I need to get some Vitamin E cream to remove those old excema scars on her legs.

All the personal individual attention Rowena is ggeting now has really helped her development. She can string a number of words together in a very melodious way.

I keep telling her to sleep in her cot and she says, 'Nooooo, I wan sleep mummy beddddd' and thats where she ends up.

She loves the Spot the Dog book my aunty got her and insist I read her 'Pot Dog' book everyday. She has memorized the stories and reads it aloud with me with her cute pronounciation. Her other faviourite book is 'The Okay' book and also Harvynna's collection of Princess books, which she has proudly damaged now.

She is quite good with food and eats anything. If we ask her, where you want to go to eat, she will say 'Nathans (the stall near my house) - eat tii canai and mio tawik (milo tarik).

I cannot disappear from her sight or the 2o questions routine will start 'mummy, where you or mummy, where you went'.

I have been on medication the last week and she keeps reminding me 'mummy take medicine'. After I take it, she will say 'Rowie put back freezer' (the fridge is a freezer to her).

I wonder how she will react to see her sister this weekend as the attention will have to be divided again.

One expensive plate

2008-02-19T16:37:00.005+08:00

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

2008-02-18T15:59:00.002+08:00

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

2008-02-15T10:47:00.004+08:00

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!

updates

2008-01-25T16:23:00.000+08:00

Its been a while since I updated anything on the girls. As mentioned in my last post, I have resigned and am serving my 2 months notice with tons of things to do and clear up before I handover everything. Hence, have not had time to blog hop - managed to speed read a few but with no comments. Sorry - will catch up soon.

The girls are back in KL now (since early January) and are back to their daily routine. Will be starting Harvynna in kindergarten sometime in April (when she turns 4) - most probably it will be at Beaconhouse (if they take her in) or Words Bangsar. Gosh, that will be a real rush routine every morning, getting her ready, dropping Rowena off at the babysitters and Harvynna to her kindy. But I think she is getting bored silly making her really cranky and whiny, which in turn drives me up the wall too!! In the meantime, she can read (somewhat) and do basic counting. She can write her own name and other words, if prompted but her hands are not so steady and the writing still looks a little wriggly.

Rowena, on the other hand has turned 21 months today. She is really chatty and such a handful. She is showing signs of her Taurus sign. Bringing her to malls is really tough as she insists on her way, and folds her arms, sitting on the floor with a firm 'No'. She tries to pull of the price tags on the items in the shop and I have to quietly pick up the tag and item and put it back, hoping nobody will notice.

She can put 2 words together, but is quite lazy at pronouncing whole words e.g.

lollipop becomes pop
slippers becomes pers
butterfly becomes fly

Even for songs, she only sings the last 2 words of everyline.

She is very vain that after she puts on her clothes, she will turn round and say 'wahhhh' and go show her daddy 'look daddy - wah'!

Harvynna and Rowena can really fight now with each pulling each others hair, pinching each other, grabbing each others things. cant imagine what it would be like once Rowena starts talking in full sentences. But Harvynna can be a good babysitter too as she looks after Rowena while I do something around the house. They can both play quite independantly for a while, which is good

A new beginning

2008-01-11T16:16:00.000+08:00

Happy New Year! I know its already 11 days into the new year, but nevertheless.....

Anyway, I have been pondering and dwelling into this for sometime, and finally I submitted my resignation in my current job today.Its really a mixed feeling, as I have been here for 5 1/2 years, and it has been comfortable. But after 5 years, I looked at career progression etc etc etc and decided that I need a change. Its amazing how once I made up my mind to leave, several offers came and I was deciding between 2. So, as of now, I have tendered my resignation, turned down one offer and accpeted another. It feels so draining as there was so much to think about.

Career wise, I am not interested in rising up to the top of the ladder as my priorities are with my girls. All I need is a good stable job, pays well enough so I can shop at Baby Gap or Mothercare without feeling guilty, and a good work life balance so I have time for my family and a job which I can happily wake up to every morning.

So I guess I have made the right choice. There's no turning back now. Looks like I started 2008 with a big change, but for the better.

Wish me luck!!

2007 at a glance

2007-12-19T13:29:00.001+08:00

My SIL's wedding

2007-12-13T14:49:00.000+08:00

My SIL Vindi got married in November to Jim Mountstephens. Finally managed to upload some of the pictures.

Our Anniversary

2007-12-11T15:34:00.000+08:00

Today 11 December 2007 is our 8th wedding anniversary. How time flies. Like every normal couple, we have our ups and downs but definitely more ups..... and of course, we have been blessed with our 2 beautiful angels.

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!