I was clearing the book shelf the other day. There were tons of unread books which I plan to complete before year end. As I was sorting out the book, Big J came by. Our conversation went like this:

Big J : What are you doing, mum?

Me : Err.. just sorting my books.

He took some of the books and …

Big J : Hey.. these books are so dusty.. er.. are you going to donate them to Chung Hua during the recycling day?

Me : No lah.. I haven’t completed these books.

Big J : Har? The books are already so dusty… Hey mum… didn’t you always teach me that today’s work must finish today? Don’t wait for tomorrow because there will always be new work tomorrow? Why have you not been reading them?

Me : (Speechless)…

My big boy has asked me to stop procrastinating! Thanks baby, for waking me up!

Waking up this morning feeling sooo…gooood… Haven’t slept so well for so many days.. Little J still has a mild fever. Fed him paracetamol about 2.15am and we both slept like baby. He is still sleeping and I just checked on him, look good so far.. Fever has subsided.. pray that it does not come back..

Malaysia beat Denmark to qualify for semi in the Thomas Cup. It was a tensed game and my heart almost stopped on several occasion. Haaa… I am really the weak heart type. There were times which I felt like switching off the tv and stopped watching because heart was beating real fast.. hahha.. Anyway, it feels so good that Malaysia won but meeting China is the semi will be very challenging. But then, nothing is impossible….

I was down with flu and bad cough for the last 3 days. I have been getting less than 4 hours of sleep since, looking exactly like a panda bear now. Hubby is in Wuhan and won’t be back till next Monday. Little J started to develop fever yesterday and he couldn’t attend school. It doesn’t help that these 2 weeks are their mid-year assessment weeks and I haven’t been strong enough to cook nutritious and healthy food for them. They miss mama’s food and I miss cooking…

It’s stressful but the moment the kids look into my eyes, the stress are all gone..  Pray for Little J’s speedy recovery….

When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Gets Going……

I posted in Facebook this question : Would you enrol your 5 year old child in a language enrichment class, ie BM, Mandarin, English although he/she is already in kindy and most comments I got was a NO. My answer is yes and no, based on my personal experience.

I was never Mandarin educated.

When Big J started primary school, I was contemplating to enrol him in a national school, rather than a Chinese school for a simple reason, I would never be able to assist him in his school work if he were to study in a Chinese school. Hubby, being Chinese educated was adamant that the children go to Chinese school.

Big J didn’t go for any Chinese language enrichment classes because my well-meaning relatives said he was too young to go for additional tuition classes, they claimed that he will pick up Mandarin naturally once he entered primary school and not to pressure him.

They were wrong. He was struggling. He was frustrated. He started to lose interest not only in Mandarin but in the Chinese school. He told me then that he wanted to be transferred to an English school. As a result, academically he performed poorly and was side-lined in class. He was demotivated and uninspired to study and started to become rebellious in school and at home.

I panicked. I was equally frustrated because I was so helpless and hopeless. I struggled with the Chinese dictionary, something which was so alien to me. That’s when I started to scout around for a Mandarin enrichment center. I shared my story earlier in this blog entry.

Today, at Primary 4, he does well not only academically but is also elected as the Deputy Head Perfect and has represented his class in several speech contests. His Primay 1 class teacher was surprised to see his progress. A once hopeless student is now a shinning star in school.

I didn’t want to make the same mistake with Little J. At age 5, I enrolled him in a Chinese language enrichment center and today at Primary 1, he excels in the Mandarin language and loves going to school so much.

Back to the question, yes I would enrol my child in a language class at the tender age of 5 under the condition that the class is not the typical tuition class, he would not be pressurized with tons of homework and he enjoys the class and has lots of fun. I would also only enrol him in a particular language class only if I do not know the language myself!

I am really amused by those tele-marketers who are sooooooooo unprofessional. Seriously, I don’t mind them cold-calling me, provided they act professionally and courteous.. I received a call today and the conversation went like this…

Ring.. ring..

Me : Hello..

Tele-marketer : You are Ms. Tan? Can you speak Mandarin? (She asked in Mandarin)

Me : (In English) May I know who is this?

Line dead… She disconnected the line just like that.. without even saying anything!! I almost fell off the chair!!

Aren’t they trained professionally to invite prospective customer to take a look at their product? I wonder who hire them??

Gong Xi Fa Cai… May the year of the Tiger continues to bless you with abundance of True Health, True Wealth and Prosperity.

And Happy Valentine’s Day to everyone. Enjoy these double celebrations with your loved ones!

What’s with our mainstream media? Sodomy charge.. Sex proposal, Judge is a liar… wow! Sodomy, sex, liar! I have one hell of a time explaining to Little J..

I have just managed to get him to start reading newspaper when these not-so-nice news started to frontpag all major newspapers. Little J was asking me to explain So-do-my (he pronounced it as “mine”). I wasn’t sure if I should tell him what sodomy is, so I just told him that it is something unnatural that a person does to another person.

He then asked, what kind of unnatural thing that the person did.. I coolly told him.. a person puts something into another person’s anus. And he said ..yucks!

Wow!…It’s been sooo…longggg… since I last updated my blog.. My blog was spammed with tons and tons of spam comments. Hey.. thanks to the spammers, helping me in increasing my readership.. haha!

Well, I am back.. I have tons to share and will definitely update my blog regularly from now on… up coming entries include how to shop for a good school bag, does our children need to attend extra classes, ie tuitions? Stay tuned.. I am BACK!

I know, I know.. I haven’t been updating my blog.. Was helping the kids in their exam preparation.. then Little J caught some viruses and was vomiting severely.. 2 days later, Big J caught the virus and was having diarrhea and vomiting severely for several days, missed his exam.. few days later, I caught the virus! Although I did not vomit nor having diarrhea, my stomach was bloated and I didn’t had any appetite for few days nor enough sleep. It didn’t help that hubby was overseas and no maid to help out and my internet line was down for several days.

Every thing is ok now, and it’s back to blogging. Really looking forward to the long school holiday….

No, don’t get alarmed by the topic of this entry. I am not been abused, at least not by another human being. My hands and feets have been “abused” by the washing detergent. I have the roughest hands and feets which I have never had before in my life. My heels crack and peel so badly and my hands have turned so dry and rough.. The soles look so awful and so dirty despite scrubbing them with body scrub every day). Well meaning friends have recommended all types of washing detergent which claim to be gentle to the hands and feet, I have tried a few and yet to see any good results.

I was thinking hard on how to heal my cracked heels and rough hands. My tai-tai friend recommends me to go for regular hand and feet spa, but I have no time at all. Out of the blue, I remembered a couple of years ago, Big J’s feets were peeling badly after swimming. Then, my sister recommended to soak his feet with dead sea salt and amazingly, he recovered within days.

Aha.. the thought gave me an idea to come out with a home remedy. I did a bit of google search on cracked heels and came out my own remedies. First I would scrap away all those dry, flaky skin on my feet. I would use a very moisturising shower gel and scrap using the pumice stone. After that, I scrub them gently with a body scrub. Then I soak them in a warm dead sea salt water for about 20 minutes. After that, I apply a 100% Petroleum Jelly all over my feet and put my socks on. I do this before I sleep. I would use the pumice stone twice a week, soak in a warm dead sea salt water every alternate day and appy the 100% Petroleum Jelly every night. It’s the same remedy for my hand, except that I do not scrap it with the pumice stone. Believe it or not, I see immediate result! I do not endorse any brands. I am using the pumice stone from Guardian,  Johnson 5.5pH Nourishing Body Wash, Secret Garden Body Scrub, Cosway Dead Sea Salt and Vaseline 100% Petroleum Jelly. They really work wonder on my hands and feets. I can now enjoy “abusing” my hands and feets with any types of washing detergent. Haha….