Another Un-Fulfilled Trip?

On a sms exchange with Wae Shuen's mommy, I learnt that her family and her friend's had also cancelled their trip plans to the Australia(not sure when is theirs). Why also? 'Cos we had also been thinking along the same line initially, for the June holidays(dunno why we never seem to be able to finalise going there, hmmm). But now with the swine flu, plus daddy's indefinite schedule, it's very likely that the trip's bound towards the 'storeroom' of my mind, :).

Anyway, let's just hope this epidemic will be over SOON with no more new cases, anywhere in the world...

Eve of PH

Seeing my sisters' new haircut reminded me that I needed a trim myself, especially when lately, the reflection of my longer than chin length hair was just enough to make me feel warm all over, hahaha.

Confirming with Janice that we won't be having a cuppa today(since we've done that on Tues), I quickly booked an appointment with my hairstylist. And before I went over, I did a quick surf over the net for some short hairstyles references and when I chanced upon the infamous Victoria Beckam's, I didn't think I would give it a try given that I'm not so keen in having that short a hair now(cos I've had a really short hair cut after the birth of Renee and never been able to keep longer hair for long since). However, upon a quick discussioin with my h/stylist, a normal trim would be boring so I left it to her on the style selection. Never did I know that the style she chose would be similar to VB's but with mine just a tad longer(say 1, 2cm?) and with a deliberate 'inbalance' cut(on both sides, though not very obvious, in case I can't accept it, hahaha) to stir the style up. Hmmm, I quite like it, for a change, :D. But most of all, I feel much cooler and that's enough to Hurray!(well, not forgetting the benefit of getting to renew the package with the lower price charged for short/medium length hair):D

After school, we went over to Hougang Mall('cos it's nearer to Eileen's and I need to pick up the pork and pandan leaves I've asked her to buy for me) amd at the Popular bookstore, I found a wonderful book of fairy tales and had almost bought it when I remembered the bookspree I've joined, phew...

'Refunded' Stars?

Renee had indeed asked to exchange her 10 stars for daddy to sleep beside her last night and although I had wanted her to just keep them, daddy decided that she could have 5 for falling asleep fast, hahaha. Ok, I could go along with that and so today, when Renee took the card for me to cross out the stars for the exchange, I gave her the 5 daddy had rewarded her and she grinned, :).

"Mommy, You Forgot to Cook My Food?"

Eileen did her marketing today and I was actually thinking of preparing Renee's meal(to be taken at school) with the fresh foodstock but as I didn't have to pick her up from the market('cos my BIL went with her), I've forgotten to cook Renee's food! And to think that I've actually woken up earlier today, haiz...It was only when we were about to leave home for school that I remembered.

Having no choice, I drove to the coffee shop near my sis', packed char-siew rice and requested my sis to bring the foodstock down to me...

At the school, I have to try and shred the char-siew to smaller pieces(luckily the uncle was nice to slice them thinner for me)at the waiting section and re-packed them into the Thermos container I've brought along...*phew*.

It was raining when I was sending Renee to school and I took the opportunity and 'used' the rain-water to wipe my car of its dust but when it's dried, it didn't look very clean either. So, after our lunch at home, I wet the cloth again and with Renee sitting on the front seat listening to her school's CD, I gave it another wipe all over, at least now it looks alot cleaner, lolz(well, it at least could 'tong' til the next time daddy bring it to the manual car wash).

It's a good thing that we went back to wipe my car, as we found the 'little bunny' charm(must have dropped from the bag when I carried the sleeping Renee home earlier) Eileen gave to Renee, on the way to the carpark! :)

"I Don't Want to go to School"

To my very surprise, this was what Renee told me this morning when I asked her to get ready for school!

I asked her for the reason to which she told me that "we draw something and Mrs Ong asked what is it, but I don't know and she's very angry". To find out more, I decided to speak to the teacher. The children were still in the assembly hall when we arrived and I took the opportunity to speak to Mrs Ong. She said she was also waiting for an opportunity to have a word with me about this. This was what happened:

'The current theme engages them in the play of 'tools' and whilst Mrs Ong was telling her the names of the tools she's selected(each was to select his/her tools for drawing/colouring) but seeing her friends whom had already gone through that earlier and moved-0n to the play corner(with the tools), she couldn't concentrate. Mrs Ong decided to let her go on but test her later. Obviously this girl didn't pass the test and out of panic, she gave the tool a name(something which the teacher couldn't catch) and claimed that it was something I've taught her! It was a spanner and with it being that, the teacher has correctly assumed that I wouldn't have taught her so, especially when it's given a wrong name. The teacher added that she normally doesn't have to 'scold' Renee as she 'picked up' things fast but it was the 'lie' that made her angry(we are too!) and so she chided her. Out of fear, she cried and blurted : "I want mommy, I'm not feeling well, I want to go home, I want to practice my violin"(arrh! This explains why Mrs Ong asked yesterday if she's learning violin). She was then led for a face-wash and lesson continued...'

So, that explains why she hadn't want to explain to me why she's told her teacher about her learning the violin and perhaps also why 1 of her classmates, Jun Wei had suddenly rushed to give her a small pack of rasins at the gate at dismissal(probably 'cos that's the 1st time they've seen she cried).

After the talk with the teacher, I had wanted to speak with Renee but thought it's best to leave it till we got home after school. With the approach of the celebrated Vesak Day, I brought her to the Buddhist Welfare Temple for the 'Yu Fuo' and when we got back, this is the conversation I've re-enforced with her :

Me : "Renee, come, I need to talk to you"

Renee : "yes mommy"

Me : "why did you lie to the teacher in school?"

Renee : "because she asked me but I don't know and I'm afraid"

Me : "it's ok that you don't know, you just have to pay attention in class, listen and learn. It is very bad to lie. Do Not lie again. Mommy and Papa had always told you not to lie. It's ok to make mistake and not to know something, just don't tell lies"

Renee : "ok mommy, I will remember that. I'm sorry..."

Me : "This is not the first time I'm telling you this, so please don't let me hear that you've lied again"

Renee : "ok mommy"

Me : (repeating to make sure the message gets through again) : "remember ok, never lie. If you've done something wrong and papa/mommy asked you, you must say so. We may scold you, yes But, if we caught you telling lies, we'll cane you, do you understand?"

Renee : "yes, mommy..."

Well, I hope this 'small matter' will help to teach/help her learn more about not lying and she'll not use a lie to cover up her fear again or anymore.

Malls, Stars, TV

Times are bad and retailers are trying their best to 'keep' their customers. For the past couple of years, the malls here have been upgrading themselves and recently the NTUC Fairprice at Rivervale Mall had been fully renovated and it's now very nice. Today, the Cold Storage @ Compass Point has almost finalised with its re-arranged layout, which also look alot better! They even played soft jazz music for the shoppers, lolz.

On the homefront, we've found Renee's getting too hooked on the TV lately(she could even have it on whilst playing with her toys) and that's not good. Not wanting her to cultivate a lazy mind(which already beginning to, hahaha), we decided to 'cut off' her TV watching. We've told her so yesterday after she lazily tried to shorten her violin practice(just 5 mins) and she willingly agreed. We've expected that she'd put up a protest today but surprisingly, she went on the whole day(well, almost the whole day except the 1/2 hr when I needed her to drink her barley water then I switched it on to distract her abit) without much protest - she did request for her VCDs with the reason that VCD ain't TV programme, hahaha. Wanted to cancel off the children tvs from our SVC package but there isn't any interesting one that I could replace it with, so I told daddy to just leave it and we could just let her watch occasionally OR on Saturdays/Holidays. Let's hope we could all work-on/stick-to this arrangement on a long term basis...

PX came abit later today and only finished her chores at ard 8pm. However, she still stayed and played with Renee for a good 45mins and her reason was that she's always find Renee's very 'creative' in her plays and she's enjoyed it. It is nice of her, really, but then again, I hope it won't happen too often, 'cos it's pretty disruptive for me when Renee's time/routine is jumbled up like this, :D... Good thing Renee still managed to go to bed by 11pm(and not any later!).

Talking about 'sleep'... Renee has, for the past week til now, accumulated 9 stars for her violin practices and I was wondering why she hasn't requested for any exchange. Today, when I told her that it's her 9th star she's getting and

she exclaimed excitedly : "Oh, 9 stars! Papa promised that he'll sleep with me when I have 10 stars!"

Puzzled, I asked : "are you sure you want to exchange your stars for papa to sleep with you?"

Renee : "yes"

Me : "......"

Renee : "but 10 stars means 10 days, so long....."

Awww, I'm going to tell daddy about this, since this is what he's promised, he would have to fulfil it but I'll just allow her to keep her stars for her exchange, just that she can only insist for her papa to sleep beside her when she's got 10 stars(wonder if she'll really keep to that, she still wakes up at night occasionally and shouted across for him to go over, hahaha).

We went to Ikea this evening as daddy needed some stationeries from their store and we had our dinner at Courts' 'Box Bistro' before we went to take a look at the foldable garments racks...Haiz, not what we were looking for... good thing we didn't make a trip purposely to check them out.

Oh ya, as promised, here're a couple of pics of her in e denim shorts, :D :

Renee also loves to play with the 'fridge magnets' and yesterday, whilst I was cooking, she re-arranged the smilies and said "mommy, look, it's a car", hahaha:

2nd Sunday Violin Lesson

Indeed, as feared, Renee didn't have enough rest(even though she didn't wake up as early) and so she was a little grouchy during her lesson. Luckily we still managed to get her to play a few more times on the songs, *phew* but it's still rather tiring, especially for me.

Her nap in the car on the short detour to pack our lunch proved her restless-ness but when she's back home, she didn't want her nap after her lunch even though her eyebags are quite obvious - her reason is, she could nap in the car later on our way out! hahaha.

We'd be skipping lesson again next week as Ms Mok would be away on a short holiday...and I hope we'd be able to get a favourable response to our request to try out 1 Sat afternoon(if proved ok for Renee, we'll hope to fix it on Sats instead).

Family Holiday?

During our family gathering at my mom's today, the topic of a 'Family Holiday' came up. It has been more than 10 years since the last one we had with the WHOOOOLE family = literally everyone, :D. I'm sure many of us look forward to our next one, but with the difficulty for most of us to find a suitable time slot, I think it's quite hard that this could materialise in the near future... Well, guess we'll just have to take this matter further if we are all really keen about it, :).

Renee's lesson for this week still remains at the same time tomorrow but daddy still decided to have a short mahjong session with the rest and thus, we only got home at 10pm tonight. Renee had gone to bed after 11:30pm, so I hope she'll have enough rest, but with the super warm weather today(no wind even), will she be able to sleep in longer? For that, I've decided to switch the air-condition on so that Renee could sleep better but when I turned it on, she went "mommy, why you On the air-con? Wait I sick how?", hahaha... Oh geez, I hope not man!

But it's surprising why we're not feeling the 'warmth' now after our supper, it was only after our showers that we were both perspiring like mad *???*...

No School Again

Renee woke up with a slightly higher temperature and so, she's to skip school again today. After the conversation with my sister last night and with an email from 'Scholastic' reminding me about the PD's suggestion on the allergy relief medications, we decided to give TCM a miss and bring her to the PD's this time.

We had not given the medication(except for Singulair, I just can't remember e name of e other) a try as it was near the school holidays then and by the time she's done with the set of medication, she won't be subjected to these viruses so much already as per the doc(for kids with her sensitive nose condition will easily fall ill when any kid in the school/class is sick). Also, according to her, as long they do recover before the next attack, it is still ok and unless the recurrence of her phlemgy cough is very frequent and in very short intervals, then perhaps, the medication is recommended.

I had thought that perhaps this time round, we might really have to give this medication a try but though the sound of phlegm wasn't good when Renee coughs, the PD said that her chest/lungs are clear, so there's no urgency to give that medication a try now either(she even said she doesn't look sick at all, hahaha). Seeing my concern, the PD gave a week's supply of the Singulair(click here to read my past post on this - last post on the page) and told me to continue with the liquid Zyrtec(also for allergies) and prescribed another one in drops formula. Hopefully this will help clear up her nose sensitivity/allergy level for a longer time frame.

Remembering that it was also around this time last year that we've temporarily stopped Renee from the pre-N classes(and the 'prob' had miraculously stopped. in fact it kinda stop during the school holidays or even if she does get attack, it was usually not as bad, so I guess the PD's right in way about e reaction of her nose sensitivity/allergy) and I asked the PD if it is always around this period of time when the children get sicker. Well, naturally the weather plays a part but she also said that this time, the 'bug' was actually very bad/strong and many hospitals are full with sick children.

On the other hand, mommy Janice had started reducing the twice a day milk intake for Jerome to once a day and recently, my friend Karen, had also switched from formula milk to soymilk for her girl Emma. However, I'm currently still not ready to stop Renee from the FM intake(especially when she's not taking in a very wide range of food in her daily meals for the various different types of nutrients) and since I was at the PD's office, I took this up with her. She had also advised me against from stopping the FM for its nutrients supply and recalling the time when I told the Chinese Physician that I'd been diluting Renee's FM(about 20%) and surprisingly to me, he had also advised me from doing that(although he had told me once to do so when Renee was an infant, and was regurgitating FM due to the phlegm accumulation) as it would lessen the nutrients content, but just make her drink more water. However, unable to make Renee do that daily, I have to dilute the FM mixture most of the times.

For now, it's simply monitoring time...

With Renee being absent from school, in a way it tend to kinda give me an opportunity to spend 'quality' time with her. After her short nap and lunch, I told her that she could skip her violin practice and we did some paintwork together(she prefers it if I do it with her) and we ended the last piece with an exploration of 'colour mixing', just to see how much lighter each colour will turn out after adding some white paint to 'them' :

After the paintwork, I read her 2 stories from the big book that I've got her recently and although she was getting sleepy from the story telling, she had wanted more, hahaha.

On our way to dropping her off at Eileen's, we dropped by the mall to get a small cake for Wayne gor gor(with Renee's own money and she even 'paid for it' herself) but by the time we've arrived, wayne was already out with Lili for his advance birthday dinner treat. No worries, he'd back and he would see the cake and angpao anyway, :).

I really hope Renee's fever will be fully subsided(we've stopped the TCM and gave her the fever medicine again, for the night) and I guess I'll bring her back to the Physician tomorrow 'cos in any case, her 'medication' is almost finished(left with just one last dose). My sis, seeing her in this condition, told me to just lay off heaty food for her and when I commented that if I always lay off those food, then will it 'prevent' her from building up the immunity but she said it's not forever that we have to lay off anyway... I gues she's right, in any case, those food aren't healthy to begin with, so why feel sorry for missing them? Especially if they're causing harm to the little body of hers... I have explained the 'pros and cons of taking and giving those food a miss' to Renee on the spot and she must have caught on the conversation I had with my sis that she agreed, well, for how long, I really wouldn't say hahaha, but I sure hope that it'll be at least easier for her to fight off her temptation later.

Oh ya, I've let Renee put on that Gap denim shorts this evening and it really looked kinda cool. I've told her excitedly that I'd like to take pic and she even gave a nice pose, hahaha :

yeah, yeah, I know it's small, but wat to do? lolz K, I'll try take another the next time she wears it

No School :(

Yes, Renee's skipping school today and it's partly my fault. I have thought that since she's recovering well, I had, over the past few days, relented to her not so mild requests to have some of my french fries and I even gave her baked ribs, ham, etc... without taking into account the hot weather, haiz...(she told me yesterday that school has given them cookies! and she din really drink her water, aiyoh!)

So last night, she was found to have a slight fever and for that, we have to stop her finishing TCM and gave her a dose of the paracetamol.

This morning, her fever hasn't subsided so I don't want her to go to school, though she might even pass through the 'gate test' with the forehead scanning thermometer(usually it show lower temp. that's how sick kids are being let in, I supposed) but for me, when the kid is sick, esp. fever, it's not just for the benefit of other kids, it is for her/his recovery that you let them stay at home.

Her meal(to be packed to school) was already in the midst of being cooked but I stopped the 'cooking' when the rice's cooked. Just gave her another dose of the paracetamol + a fresh patch on her forehead and she's sweating it out now. In any case, I will still let her stay home for the day as she'd be going over to her aunt's this evening when I help daddy with the seminar, so she'd certainly do with the home rest...

Artwork Display

Renee loves to 'create' with her pack of 'building-sticks'(I gave this name to the set as I've no idea what they're known as, lolz) and here're just a couple recent ones:

Butterfly(mix with her Dora building blocks)

Vacuum Cleaner

Was it last week? I can't remember but Renee came back from school one day and told me that they're required to bring an empty tissue box. Not knowing what these boxes are for(no notes given), I just simply gave her a small one(which I placed on the drawer table next to her 'bed' & juz nice it finishes). Heard from her that there was colouring/stuff done to the box but they were not allowed to bring it back. Days passed and no sight of it til today, I saw kids from the next door studio carrying their 'boxes'. Then...I saw Renee with her small one, hahaha. At first sight, I was thinking to myself "Oh no, they really had craft work and I gave Renee a small one!" but when I see her with hers, it looked soooo cute! Will definitely keep this piece with her GUG works, :D :

Hot & Windy, Possible? :P

Geez, despite the wind for the past few nights, I feel extremely warm today! This really depleted whatever balance thought I've had to try keeping my hair long again(maybe later part of the yr, this thought might pop up again, hahaha. Wat to do, I'm one who likes to have a change of look every now and then, heee).

And yes, it is windy here, some don't quite believe but just as I'm typing this post, I could hear the branches of the palm trees 'whishing' away.... :

Best I can capture, my camera's no good in dark situation But it should give U an idea

Today, after the much postponed/cancelled appointment, I finally had my facial session, phew... It's about time... more than 1 month's break! No good, especially after I've taken up the 2nd package with the 1st not being used up yet. Must make an effort to go more often, especially when my skin showed signs of 'lack of sleep'(as per the beautician, they always asked me "do you sleep late? not enough sleep"?), hahaha.

But then again, I always have to rush, so I usually try not to have additional treatment done unless I can get daddy to help send/pick Renee to/from school. Today, they had ended the session even earlier(lugi hor? hahaha) and with the extra time, I managed to pack char siew rice + ribs & lotus root soup(her fav) for her meal, :)

A Lazy Tuesday

Feeling abit lazy, I decided to give Renee her favourite 'Gourmet' premium sandwich ham with milk bread for her after-school meal(especially when I've already packed home-cooked food for her to school) and brought her to the Mac's.

And due to the outing, this is the first time(oh, minus the time when she was obsessed with the mini-playground at the restaurant that her daddy wanted to let her learn a lesson) that she's had her dinner late, really late(for a young kid) at close to 8pm! Why? Well, we had both had quite a full stomach at Mac's and after her violin practice, even with it being a short one, it was already close to 6pm and by the time I got the foodstuffs prepared, ironed my newly acquired apparels(which were still damp from the 'just' wash), she had her shower, it was 7:50pm but it was just nice 'cos daddy came home at the time - it was in a way, a perfect timing, as I've actually prepared a 'family dinner', so in this case, we get to enjoy it in a 'family' way, :D.

New Song(First Home Practice)

Being lazy, she asked to skip her practice after her lesson yesterday and 'promised' to have a longer practice today, hahaha. However, when she finally got to it after lunch this afternoon, she was quick to ask if she could stop soon if she plays well, hahaha - Well, honestly, if she could really play well, I don't mind! In fact, I don't usually request her to practice for a long time unless she doesn't play well and I'll ask her to repeat a few times more(anyway, she'll protest if it gets alittle longer).

Given that it's the first practice on the new song, I would say that it's quite good a play(or was it that I don't really set a high standard for her? lolz) and we indeed, didn't do a looong one like the earlier piece which was abit tougher then...

Normally, she'll pester PX to play with her &/or rather she would join PX in her work, just to have abit of fun and today, perhaps she's finally heeded my telling her that she has to 'let aunty PX finish her work and not disturb her too much' that she literally waited for her to finish her chores before embarking on her request. PX has so far not disappointed her and had, since last week, stayed on for a short while(after she's done) just to play with her, very nice of her(although at times I 'chased' her back, indirectly of cos as it's late and we needed to get on with our dinner and my follow up chores, heee)...

Sunday Violin

Today's the first time Renee's had her violin lesson on a weekend(and on our family day even, heee) and it had turned out pretty well. However, I wasn't sure if it was due to the prep-talk or that she's really more responsive since she's not tired(after school) that she trial-played the whole of the new song she's to learn today and not only once, but a couple of times, for the teacher's guidance - which is good and important, 'cos there're new things to be learnt! - the same down-bow with 2 same notes(this is not that bad for Renee to grasp though Ms Mok said that she has one pri-level student who had prob with, but with this, I'm already fretting the time when it comes to her having to play a few notes with 1 bow!)

Ms Mok gave her 2 stars today - for passing the song she's learnt earlier, 1 for Twinkle2 Little Star's theme and the other's 'Lightly Row'. I can see the slight surprise look on Ms Mok's face when she heard Renee played the full song of 'Lightly Row' 'cos Renee had been extremely unco-operative on the day she's learning this song and hadn't play a single note for Ms Mok. So, with that, I guess she must be expecting quite abit of mistakes from her and without any, she said "actually she can really play". Ey, alot of hardwork on my part hor! ;P. Well, as long as results are good/positive, it comforts me liao...

When leaving, Ms Mok kindly asked if this timing's ok for us and if we wish to change it to Sunday afternoons, she's also ok to accomodate. However, I would personally prefer it to be on Saturdays, before we head for our usual family gatherings but her commitment with AiTong Pri will only allow her to be back by earliest 4pm. Hmmm, perhaps I should try 1 week on Saturday with the later afternoon slot to see how Renee fare before we decide.

More Clothes?

As we'd be going home today, I thought to go over to my mom's earlier than usual but it turned out that I was the first one to arrive(daddy went to the golf range)! Feeling hungry and couldn't wait any longer for them, I decided to pack KFC(ate the same set as yesterday's lunch, hahaha) and when I got back, they were there. Elsie immediately showed me the apparels which her colleague had kindly passed to her, for Renee as they were too small for her daughter and they wouldn't accept any payment even from my sis! Elsie, say thanks to your colleague on our behalf please, thanks.

Hurray, I had been tempted to get her a couple pair of denim shorts/skirts when the 'gift' came :

(This photo doesn't do the items justice as they're very lovely in actual product, oh, the brown 'panty' comes with the brown skirt)

Trying on a piece, the size was too big for Renee but good thing they're made the same way as those I've acquired from overseas sprees, the inner adjustable waistband(except the brown one) makes it possible for her to wear them now, Yippie!

TGIF, TCM

Yes, we made it to school before the assembly began today! Good thing Renee's told me about her class performing, so I managed to record it in video, :D

Janice and I didn't go for our usual cuppa today as I needed to pick up some stuffs, long waited ones.... there:

yeah, more shoes, just can't resist, heee

Renee's sooo excited that she had already chosen the 1st 2 ornaments, :)

With most of the week's bustlings tackled, I decided to attack the root of my migraine attack.

Although the pain/headache has subsided quite abit, I still feel it nudging around and besides it being distracting, I really needed to rid it to stop the feeling of nausea. So, we both went to the infamous chinese physician after school today. And since we're there, I also booked a slot for Renee's 'remaining' phelgm to be checked and he commented that she's still very heaty(ya, 'cos due to us giving her the western medicine, we've stopped the TCM's lor...) and asked if she'd been like 'about to get fever' or fell in/out of fever recently, woah, really true! I told him that this 'heatiness' never seem to go off completely and he said it's no choice as children consuming formula milk powder tend to get the 'heat' especially if they don't drink alot of water and don't avoid the heaty food(or phlegm causing food for that matter?), haiz...

Aunty's Place

Unlike the previous times, I did not inform Renee earlier that she'd be going to her aunty PC's place this evening and so when I broke the news to her after school, she got very excited.

Suddenly feel like eating noodles at Punggol Plaza, I brought the meal I've prepared for Renee along to P/P for mine, heee. She was happy as she didn't have to share my food and got to eat her 'home-cooked' meal, :D. After the bowlful of noodles, although I'm already quite full, I still have the craving for 'sweets'(why? when I've already taken alot of 'sugary' stuffs leh, there shldn't be such cravings wat) and decided to go for a bowl of 'red ruby'. Thinking that Renee would surely not try, I pushed a tiny bit on a spoon to her and unexpectedly, she tried! Oh boy, a mistake, 'cos that's it, she kept 'trying' it with her finger and not wanting to appeal like I'm the only one enjoying a bowl of dessert(leaving the poor child longing for another taste of it), I cleaned up the accompanying dish and scooped a few small spoonfuls to it. She said "mommy, it's soooo yummmy", ya ya, why wouldn't it be? lolz. However, she managed to control herself when I told her not to indulge too much in case she falls ill again, :).

Back home, she didn't forget about her practice, and since it's the same song - we've missed another week(yes, we've finally got her teacher, back from overseas, to change her violin lessons to Sunday late mornings, so that means we'll hv to go home earlier from our Saturday outings/gatherings, haiz...), we were able to keep her practice short and she even got her bag packed/ready quickly after her shower(for her play at my sis'). I told her that I'd still have to get changed/ready for 'work' and whilst waiting for daddy to return, I'd still have to cook her dinner and she went to re-pack her bag, hahaha. The moment we're ready to go, she called out : "hurry mommy, let's go", lolz.

Again, she claimed that she's had a good time there - when we went back for her later, I could hear her calling very loudly "Wayne gor gor, Wayne gor gor, quak quak quak" and I guessed they must be playing the ducky game, :>.

When we've reached the carpark, Renee must have suddenly remembered the last time we've missed her participation in a performance during the assembly(and I've told her to remember to check with her teachers and tell me if there's any) that she told me "tomorrow got music". I was initially puzzled and had thought that she had meant violin lesson or even the school's music session, so I told her "no, violin lesson's changed to Sundays, remember?" and when she replied : "no, Mrs Ong said tomorrow got music in the school", then it occurred to me that she might have meant a performance during the assembly... Ok, must get my camera ready! :)

Cannot 'ON' the Air-Conditioner?

I've woken up today with a heavier head - perhaps it's because daddy had switched the air-conditioner on when he couldn't sleep last night feeling warm(me and Renee felt ok leh, maybe both of us nearer to the window, hee).

Renee, on the other hand, woke up 'scolding' me for having the air-con on! She came to my side of the bed : "Mommy, why you on the air-con? It's too cold, wait I sick how?" hahaha, she was afraid that she might fall sick like the other night and ended up not going to school, heee.

After dropping her off, I have this idea of re-organising her 'play-area', so when I went over to Popular again to get some stuffs for my portfolio resurrection, I got her a tiered drawer and then I spotted this book and we had a fun time identifying her toys against those in the book after school, :D :

What she did in school today - a 'Friendship band'(she's chosen Vanessa to give hers and vice-versa!) & a Tiger Mask

As daddy had came home before 11pm, it's understood that he'd have to 'entertain' the client tonight, so I've bought quite alot of snacks(for my supper,breakfast, etc) to standby, heee(Janice had thought that I'd surely lose weight over the vomitting, hahaha, too bad, I've piled them back on super fast).

It so happened that the stall Li had recommended earlier, had the soup that I/Renee wanted, and since I've no intention to cook soup today again, I bought one from them(where MSG's not added - I've drank their soup a few times and don't really feel thirsty, so shld be ok for Renee's occasional consumption) for our lunch, on top of the BBQ pork, crispy chicken thigh with pineapple rice(cooked Renee's rice and vege myself though), yum...

Expired Candies?!

Geez, who in their right frame of mind would do such a thing! - I hope they were given 'unknowingly'...

This is the note I've got from the school's email(sent this morning):

Dear Parents,

It has been noted that expired candies had been given out to some children from our school last week.

In view of this matter, the school would like to seek the cooperation of all parents not to distribute candies or other similar items to the school children without the knowledge of their class teachers.

Your kind understanding to the above matter is very much appreciated.

Regards,
Cecilia Low (Mrs)
Principal

I am grateful for this note/warning and I do have my opinion on how this might come about(especially from this year) but it's best that I don't elaborate it here. I guess I have to constantly remind my Renee not to receive anything from ANYONE... haiz.(not sure if any child from her class was given?!)

Re-Energised!

Yes, I am feeling better today. And although I've yet to recover fully(still feeling abit nausea-tic with alr-not-so-bad headache), I couldn't tolerate the idea that the extended long weekend had gone wasted(cooped-up at home)! heee. So today, after sending Renee to school(was still quite skeptical at first 'cos I was still feeling abit goggy but she was soooo looking forward to going that I couldn't bear to disappoint her), I went to get her a new children toilet seat, a simple basic pink one this time but improvised it when I got home, ;).

Unknowing that 'the client' has arrived, I planned to cook a simple meal tonight and thus, had lugged bags-ful of groceries back home...Well, never mind, Renee had a wonderful meal, :)(shall keep some of the soup for daddy).

Having read 2 stories to Renee yesterday whilst PX was here, I'm not sure if tonight she will request for more(especially when she's taken a nap this afternoon! :p) but I'm on standby mode and have also got the other 'Scholastic' stories books out, :D.

A Long Weekend Burnt

Saturday

When I was working in the corportate world, due to the constant pressure of working long hours and academic upgrade(the short study deadlines despite having to work from 8:30 - 10/11pm when the official hours are 9 - 5:15pm), I've had history of bad migraine attacks. Migraine attacks are normally accompanied by bouts of vomitting and mine usually left me limp and needed assistance - to be led to the A&E.

Since many years, I've not had any attack and being not working now, I've certainly not expected it till I suddenly woke up with one today. Splitting headache, followed by bouts of vomitting caused me unable to cook Renee's lunch and she was abit frightened by the sight of me vomitting in the toilet that she phoned her daddy twice to urge him to come home earlier, which he did finally, at 2pm. Poor girl, good thing I still managed to tend to her needs - carrying her up to the toilet, made her milk and gave her bread with butter but by the time daddy's back, I was limp on the bed...

I was hoping that it'll go away soon as we have to attend my brother's son's full month celebration but it did not... With my last bout of vomitting waking daddy from his nap, he asked if I wanna go to the doc's. Obviously I needed to and so we went. Good thing the clinic's usually quite empty on Saturday afternoons and so I didn't have to wait very long for my turn. It was confirmed a migraine attack and its medication prescribed. But with the nausea each time I sat up, we were still unable to go to my bro's and it's best that daddy stayed around, in case I'm unable to tend to Renee's needs. I was feeling alittle better after the 1st dose of med and I quickly cooked Renee's dinner But the feeling of discomfort came back when I was just half through but I still have to carry on and even did her laundry. Now, who's the one who said that non-'working' moms' job is easy? No MCs, No Annual Leave, No help...

The medication made me napped again and I woke up from the last one at 11pm last night and not long after I've had my supper(to take the medication), I vomitted again...

Sunday

This morning, I woke up with gastric discomfort - probably from the vomitting and painkillers which, the doc had also prescribed. Also, I've not had enough sleep as daddy's alarm had woken me up really early(he had lazily left it at the setting he's had earlier for his golf!) and by the time I was about to drift back to sleep, Renee's awake and he's going out(qing ming duties), haiz.

1 1/2 hour later, pounding headache came back and the vomitting worsened. I gave daddy a quick text and Renee even phoned him when she saw me vomitting again and again. Daddy came home around 1pm+ and finally at about 5pm, I couldn't take it any further and decided to go back to the clinic. Another doctor was around and 2 jabs were administered since I appeared to be in a bad state - the doctor asked if I used to have bad migraine attacks like this - Yes... When we got home, I asked to get off the car first and rushed home just in time to vomit. Not long later, I fell asleep, just like what the doc had told me. Daddy cooked Renee's dinner('cos we've forgotten to pack her share...)

I woke up at 9:30pm and feeling hungry, looked for something to eat. Tried to order pizza but later found cans of coke in the storeroom, I cancelled it - I remembered the time when I had food poisoning whilst in Phuket, the doctor had advised me to take sodas with fruit salts to replenish the lost sugar(why fruit salts I can't rem...) for energy 'cos whatever I took then will just come out either way... It had worked and craving for coke and found them, I took a can after some food, it helped...

Today

Woke up this morning(hasn't slept well, been waking up every now and then since migraine attacked) with a slight pounding headache, I waited to see if Renee will wake up early/on time, to decide if I should go on and bring her to school. However, this girl, hving tossed and turned during her sleep, had only woken up at 10:25am and feeling a little goggy myself, I decided to extend the long holiday weekend(from last Thurs) for her and skipped school - I guess it'll be dangerous for me to drive in this condition, so better play safe...

Have asked PX to come over earlier later and hopefully, I'll be well soon, so Renee could go back to school tomorrow(she's finally ok about not going again today when I told her that I'm still not feeling very well). She had been a good girl during these few days, not bothering me too much(except those loud laughter/singing she made when playing with her daddy) and she even helped me packed the dinning table last night! Awww.... (I've just put on her long forgotten 'spongebob' vcd for her to watch). Well, I can only hope she'll be this good all the time, :).

Happy Holiday!

A Happy Good Friday Holiday to all!

I think I should start a post today(being a P/H) on a lighter note - with a 'happy' greeting, after last night's 'heavy-hearted' post, :D.

Maid Abuse Alert!

Back from the seminar and with daddy tugging Renee to bed('cos he has early golf game tomorrow, so he's sleeping with her), I wanna take this opportunity to put up this post pertaining to the header so as to share this further. This afternoon, the minute I was referred to the URL link(video) below, I had quickly forwarded them over to some friends' email accounts, hoping that they could warn whoever they knew about trusting their helpers too much. I/We can't say that all maids are bad, but hey, one can never be too careful...and no-one, I'm sure, would like to find out the hard way.

http://multimedia.asiaone.com/Multimedia/Vodcast/Multimedia/Story/A1Multimedia20090402-6319.html

I have, on numerous accounts, been forwarded/told/referred to videos of different maids abusing the children they've been left to take care of. And from real life stories heard, you would really be shocked to death for what you couldn't imagine or even comprehend how/what a human being could do to another, let alone, to a young helpless child!

I always have to try very very very hard to put these scenes I've watched from the videos behind me but they're just tooo disturbing! Although this particular incident(in the abv link's video) had happened in another country but who's saying that non of these have taken place in here? And of cos, the maid later claimed that she's been abused by her employers, yes, they're equally inhuman and wicked(if they really did) but hving sufferred/tolerated such abuse as an adult herself, how could she bring herself to do that or even anything else to a young helpless child! Just looked at how the poor kid got kicked in the face, fell back and the maid even hopped on her(looks like a girl?)! It appeared that it's had gotten so bad that the girl needed to go pee - lost control of the bladder? Geez! Internal injuries! The extreme came when the poor child still held out her hand to the torturer, to be led to the toilet? Oh man, that's how defenceless she is, to have to trust that shitty maid for her needs...

Yes, I'm upset, I'm emotional but which human being wouldn't be? Daddy had always been against the idea of Renee being placed with a childcare centre(half or full day) for me to do some of my work and He is dead against me going back to my work full time and leave our girl to a maid(without the supervision of another trusted adult). With such things happening around, seen/heard, I'm sure any pair of parents, with the ability for either spouse to stay home to look after their child(ren), would surely not want to leave their precious-es home with the maid. On this, I feel that I'm truly lucky that daddy is able to provide for us so I can look after Renee full time and I seriously hope/pray that the day for me to have to go to work and leave the full time care of Renee to a maid will NEVER NEVER happen... Imagine the agony of having to worry sick about your kid at home with a 'stranger' of no family relations to you, whilst tending to your work duties, be it light or worse, heavy headed stuffs.

Anyway, this is not a post against the hiring of maids, if you have 2 or more kids and need help on the house-chores & could afford it, I suppose they do come in handy(esp. if they're 'good'). What I'm getting at here is, don't entrust your kid(s) to their care alone, without supervision...

No School Day

The weather was warm and stuffy last night after the rain and I have the air-condition switched on. However, that caused Renee high fever and she's just recovering from her cough! Haiz. Good thing she's woken me up at 3am to go to the toilet and having felt her warm body, I took her temperature and I reaslied on-time to give her a dose of Ibufen + a cooling patch on her forehead.

She woke up with fever subsided but she was sooo eager to pack her bag to go to her aunty pc's this evening that she didn't want to go to school, hahaha. I'm feeling kinda tired myself, so we decided to just rest at home, heee.

'Checked-Off' Star

I have earlier, upon the suggestion of her violin teacher, re-introduced the star reward/accumulation card to Renee(with a smaller qty for exchange of rewards). Although she was pre-occupied with playing the notes well then, that she's forgotten about collecting the stars for a while, she recently remembered and had asked for its continuity, heee(she's forgotten to collect again these few days, which actually I find a good thing).

The violin lesson was postponed last minute today but I still brought her to Compass Point so I could get some stuffs from the Popular bookstore there. And seeing the smaller size lollipops at the cashier, she asked for one. I took one for payment and reminded her that she'll get it once she's got a star from Ms Mok for the current song(1 smaller size lollipop for star given to every 'pc of song') but she fussed about having it then and there. She even threw tanthrums on the spot and having fell asleep on the way home, she fussed again when I woke her up upon arrival. I was very angry but we were in the 'open', so I tried to control myself and when we got to the elevator, I gave her a light slap and she cried and apologised.

A few days ago, I've started to give her a star for each night that she went to bed/sleep on her own and it actually makes her 'rewards exchange' faster, so I thought it is perhaps, time for her to learn about 'punishment'. I told her that I'll checked-off(her fav word against me when she's not happy with me - she'll go "I give mommy a check", meaning a 'x') one star off the chart from now on for any misbehavior and it seem to work...for now(hopefully she'll stay 'fearful' of her stars being taken away for a long long time...)

New Golf Set

Marketing day today as both Eileen and I have things to attend to tomorrow and after I've settled our vehicles insurance renewals, and sent Renee to school, I dropped by Punggol Plaza for the exchange of the faulty auto air freshener. I was given a new set but it seems to be in the same condition - doesn't sense motion as indicated and thus, no auto dispensing of the aroma(guess will have to exchange again for other stuffs).

Before heading home from the plaza, I remembered the 'longer' set of kiddy golf clubs that we saw yesterday(cheaper than the smaller set we've got earlier) and I quickly grabbed one today. Its length should also fit Renee better now. Although she had tried to 'ignore' the new set when we got home, she finally couldn't resist and took up practicing her putting shots on her own, hahaha.

The other 2 clubs from the old set are dented but it seems like the new one has got different 'irons', so I decided to hold-on to these 2(when we threw the 'carrier' away) for daddy to decide which to keep

The new set

(with colourful balls & more accessories too)

Music

I've been trying to change Renee's violin lessons to another day and am even willing to adjust my mindset on keeping her weekends free from lessons(any form) as we do not wish to change the teacher, but I've got no favorable response as the teacher has even longer commitment with AiTong Pri on Saturdays. Weekdays seem abit tough 'cos of her commitment to the school and for the time being, her family(one of her in-laws) is facing some problem and thus, after some discussion with daddy, we decided to let her have Sunday lessons instead. I've just put forward this suggestion to her and hope to hear favorably from her tomorrow, haiz...

New Taste

Needing more apples, I was contemplating if I should again, bring Renee to Punggol Plaza for our lunch - she's partake in my lunch of sliced fried fish yee mee before. However, she's quite lost interest in that and requested that I cooked her meal and that she'd rather forgo the apples for one day hahaha. However, remembering that she now likes the luncheon meat, I put the spinach and fish that I'd prepared, back to the fridge and decided to give her luncheon meat sandwiches, :)(I had suggested to her last evening that one day, should we really go for our long-talked abt picnic, she could have luncheon meat with bread and she told me that she's actually tried it at aunty pc's and it's sooo yummy, hahaha).

*Last night, when I told Daddy about it, he said that I could also put the luncheon meat in her porridge but I told him, I really wouldn't like her to take such food unless I really can't help it...

She really enjoyed her 'luncheon' today and with a good mood perhaps, she had gone on with her practice pretty well even though we've got home later(cos of her wanting to stop-by the make-shift stalls before we got our groceries). But, I don't think it's good enough for her to get her star pass for this song... This is abit tougher and she's tried and done her practice, so I'm ok. I just hope she won't break her 'maximum 2 wks to get a star pass on a song' record, *crossing fingers*, :P. But I already see 'new' things to be learnt from the next song!...

Back to the food topic, it seems like Renee's taste bud has taken a change and those food/fruits/vege that she used to like, she now dislike and those that she had disliked, she now asked for them...

Just for example(merely for this comparison purose,list does not include those food she still enjoys eating now or at least I think, still :>) :

What she used to like but don't quite enjoy now - Green Pear, Cai Sim, Cherry Tomatoes

What she hadn't like but really likes now - Luncheon meat, dark soya sauce(with her porridge, she can simply eat porridge plain just with it hahaha), Terriyaki sauce(everything taste sooo yummy with it, hahaha), Chicken Wings/Pork Chops(well, these are heaty stuffs though), ermmm, for the time being, these are what I can think of, heee.

Actually, we found her taste buds quite similar to her daddy's especially when they both dun quite like food that are too sweet and prefer saltish food. Maybe that's why she's more willing to try daddy's food than mine, hahaha.

She's self-fed herself at dinner time these 2 days, but with her request of watching the TV acceded. However, lately she seemed to have cut short on her morning/later evening tv shows and go for her Darby, Winnie Pooh & friends show(more on the morning one since the evenings' are repeats) - well, that's a good thing to me, hopefully she'll keep it that way...

Still Coughing

I'm still coughing. Maybe it's because I've asked for milder medication when I consulted the GP last week...

Today, I went back for something stronger and hopefully it'll clear up my cough and phlegm. *Geez, the medical cost sure is high here, just for a normal cough, I already have to pay S$75 for these 2 trips.

Anyway, due to driving, I've requested for medication that wouldn't cause drowiness earlier but unfortunately, it didn't work that way for me. I still felt alittle dizzy with the earlier set of medication. Not really sure if it's pyschological but when I checked with the doc, she told me that none of earlier prescription should and that the new set of medication should not too. However, some people will actually still get that effect and she said that I'd be most likely be feeling abit more from the newly ones then(different people react differently to certain medications). Haiz, guess I'll just have to take those at bedtime then...

Whilst waiting for my turn, I saw a kid being put on nebuliser and curious on its usage/effect, I took it up with the GP and she explained that it's normally prescibed when one's asthmatic or has bronchitis and thinking that I was asking for myself, she said "not for your kinda cough though", hahaha. I told her that I'm not asking for myself but am looking for the correct answer to its usage. Partly also because Renee's cough is also back and I wanna get some info first JUST in case the PD would prescribe it('cos might be bringing Renee back there but will try the medication she gave the last time - stl got bal cos stopped to take the ch ones). So now at least I have a better idea...

I also took the opportunity to checked with her on the difference of a persistant cough and bronchitis('cos I've had that before and being a layman, I obviously can't tell) and she told me that they'd go for the listening of our breathing - if we're using more muscles to do so, any wheezing, etc...

Daddy used to say that I've alot of questions, but hey, that's how we learn/gain knowledge rite? And this is just one very good example, ain't it? :)

Blunders, Blurr?(Just for Laughs)

Oh, it's really quite a funny sight when your kid wanna walk 'through' the glass panel!

After our dinner, I was looking at the display at one of the jewellery shop and suddenly I heard a 'bom' and the drawing Renee's been holding dropped to the floor. Looking down, I realised that our dear girl had bumped her head to the glass panel, hahaha, ooops, heee, perhaps I shouldn't be laughing but she was laughing at her own blunder too! :D. The salesgirls must have either heard the 'bom'(though it wasn't that loud actually) or saw us laughing away whilst I hugged Renee that they came to check out. They also laughed when they realised what's happened but they were more amused that Renee was also laughing at herself.

Back home, Renee, upon my reminder, took her socks to the kitchen but instead of putting them into her pail of soiled clothes, she dumped them into the dustbin! hahahahaha. I hadn't noticed it till I saw her quickly turning back and muttered a "Oopsy!" and before long, she was seen stepping onto the dustbin's step, bent over and took out her pair of socks with a 'oh no' look on her face, really funny, hahahahaha.

A broken shaft

A few days ago, I've spoken to Renee about her requests to do things with her papa and so, she made her daddy promised that Sundays will be our family day(well, hopefully he's able to keep to his promise, although he had gone out a short while to tend to some work this afternoon) instead of golfing early morning every week. Earlier on, whilst she was persuading him to make the commitment, she has told him that he could just stay home and play golf with her, hahaha(to her, family day means staying at home together, how sweet...) and she indeed made him do that with her this afternoon. However, one strong drive and she broke the shaft of one of her plastic clubs(the actual one's still in our store 'cos it's too heavy for her still) and when I reminded her to throw it away just now, she pouted : "but it's my super swing club"..... hahahahaha.

A Long Story... :)

Not all had gathered at our mom's today, we left earlier and that gave me more time after we've finally settled down and when Renee pulled out an 'old' story book for me to read, I decided to read her one from the recent fairy tales story book.

With the warm weather, we had the air-conditioned switched on for the first time since many months. This is not the usual short sentences per page kinda story and perhaps she's new to the 'lonnng' story telling and in the cool room, Renee soon 'dreamed' away sleepily when I was only half way through with the story, hahaha. But just as I've thought that it's gonna be easy and that I could soon leave her in the room sleeping when she decided to have another story told(of cos I stucked to the one story only, besides, she's actually sleepy already).

Prior to the reading, I brought this out for her to play with - something which I had thought to get for her but her cousins gave her for X'mas(since she's been asking for beads and string to make necklaces for a while now) :

More Books?

Have received the Scholastic book club's mail order form from the school last week and unlike those times when we were with GUG, no-0ne's to guide us here as to which books would be fun/nice to read for/with our children. So, to spare myself from the mistake of ordering some 'too complicated' books again, I've decided to give it a miss this time round and joined online spree for some books from the Book People(UK). Hopefully these would be fun books, :).

Friday Cuppas

Since school has resumed for the current term, I've been meeting mommy Janice at the school 'cos it seems that she's now trying to bring Jerome to school on time, hurray, well done! heee. And because of that, we've been going for a cuppa since 2 Fridays ago. I've arranged today's meetup with her briefly earlier this week but we didn't really re-confirm it as I've thought that it's set, hahaha. So, whilst watching the assembly this morning, I waited for her but I guess it's because I've not text her about the meetup again, she's planned to boil soup. We still went for our break though and her returning home gave me the opportunity(that I've been meaning to but always forgot) to visit her home and liking her arts ideas(some stuffs she's picked up from the pre-sch education programme), I suggested perhaps we could arrange a little art-y playdate sometime.

The weather these days had been really hot and not wanting to return home with the requested packed char-siew rice, Renee and I went over to the mall for our meals instead - bad choice of food selection as my sore throat is back now...

Back home, Renee was again fussing about her practice but though it was a short one today, she's playing the song alot better, *phew*.

A Wonder Nap

Renee has done away with her afternoon naps since mid last year and it's only occasionally that she takes her nap, which can be pretty rare. Today, with the medication and not enough sleep, she fell asleep almost instantaneously in my arms(yes, just this once, she had allowed me to rock her to sleep, hahaha) and although I had to struggle to wake her up, it wasn't before long when she's at her best behaviour, and for throughout the evening! Woah, was that a wonder nap or what? How I wish that she could be like this all the time, :D.

Hmmm, this makes me think that perhaps I should really consider changing her violin lessons to the weekends... :(

What to play?

I had a talk with daddy last night about it and he had suggested letting her go through both instruments so as to enable her to choose, but what will that leave me? If I play the piano or even the violin, I guess I would glady jump at such an idea but being not musically trained, it's gonna be tedious for me(at my age!) to learn both!(so as to guide her). So yes, it's still violin, for the time being(until such time if she tells me and strongly, that she wants to learn the piano) - based on what's narrated below, :D.

When I picked her up from school today, I had anticipated the fuss but when I was strapping her to the car-seat, I've asked her what we are to do when we got back and she replied : "mum mum first, then practice".

After her meal, I see that she's also not protested when I told her to get into the room to prepare the 'stuffs' and she played the whole song today! Although it wasn't fantastic but then it's certainly a good attempt and after a few rounds of practice, it got better.

We've both just woken up from our naps(she came back with a runny nose, so I gave her the drowsy medication) - ya, wasted my efforts excercising, to go nap with a tummy filled with a pack of beehoon with porkchop, hahaha. And right now, even as I'm sitting here typing this post away(whilst waiting for her dinner to be cooked), guess what? She's playing her toys - using the frying pan as a violin!

Kids!...

A Switch of Instrument?

Oh, I hope not! hahaha.

After another week of missed lesson, Renee was beginning to feel bored with practicing the theme of Twinkle2 Little Star(the last part of this song - total 5 parts), she learnt a new song today - 'Lightly Row'.

This song requires one to change notes abit faster, so that gives co-ordination(of fingering the notes with her left hand and bowing with the right hand) a higher challenge and either it's because of her 'perfectionist'(as per Ms Mok) nature/fear of mistakes/incapability to do it, she displayed unwillingness to try again after the first round. We hoax-ed, we coax-ed and it got to a point that I scolded her abit and told her that perhaps she should stop learning. Ms Mok must have sensed my frustrations(since I'm the one who's coaching her on the playing all these while) and here's our conversation:

Ms Mok : "Is she like that when practicing at home?"

Me : "Ya, sometimes when she's lazy and usually need more coaxing when it's the beginning of a new song that's difficult for her"

Ms Mok : "If you're still keen in letting her go on with music and if you want an easier way, maybe you can consider letting her take up piano lessons instead. It's alot easier since there's no need for her to 'create' the tune and also need not have do a longer or shorter note, faster, slower... It's already there, A here, B there, blah blah, she just have to know where they are..."

Me : (turning to Renee) "would you like to learn piano?"

Renee : *shaking her head*(whilst looking at Ms Mok playing the keys on the piano)

Ms Mok : "Actually, she's talented and she can do it if she wants. Kids at this age usually need pushing. I have quite a number of students whose parents pushed them pretty hard. Besides, they have tanthrums, sometimes it gets better when they are around higher primary school level. She picks up very fast and I have students whom are older than her and they took a longer time than her to grasp but she really needs to pick up her confidence to perform and also to try"

Ms Mok has also suggested a change of lessons' timing as Renee seems to be grouchy at times(yes, especially if she happened to have slept late at 11pm and woke up at 9am+ that day). So, for someone who likes to keep the weekends off for the kid, I'd have to work this out...

I'm not sure if Renee's able to take up yet another instrument but her daddy strongly believe that she could. However, I'm not up to it, to learn another with her nor am I going to go through 2 with her!!! Anyhow, when the time comes when they have to play the piano with both hands, it will still take some coaxing again I guess. Anyway, it's either she learns to play the violin or the piano... Maybe I should let her take up a couple lessons to see if she likes it?(can we really tell from that couple of lessons I wouldn't bet on it either, haiz....).

Meantime, I have to try and find a way to help her curb her fear of performing infront of others and with that subdued, it might help to build up her fear of making mistakes so she'd be more willing to 'try' infront of the teacher.

After the lesson, we went over to Compass Point to get some stuffs and when we got home after our dinner, she was surprisingly willing to go with her practice. However, she fussed when I corrected her and cried when I scolded her for throwing tanthrums, so I talked to her :

Me : "why you cry?"

Renee : "because it's difficult, and you stop me'

Me : "I stopped you so you can listen to my humming and get your long/short bowing right, you're playing too fast, there's no need to play so fast"

Renee : "but I can't..."

Me : "don't always say you can't when you havn't even try. When you first started on your twinkle2 song, you also found it difficult right? Remember variation B? It was more difficult for you then 'cos you even have to do the 'up bow' for the first time right? But look at how well you're playing it now. You can do it, just have to practice"

Renee : "....."

Me : "why you didn't want to try and play when we were at Ms Mok's place?"

Renee : "because I'm afraid that I make mistakes"

Me : (awwww)..... "darling, you don't have to be afraid, everyone makes mistake. Mommy doesn't know how to play, that's why we let you go to Ms Mok there, for her to teach you. I can only guide you on your practices. Ms Mok can tell you the correct and proper way to do it when or if you don't do it correctly. It's ok to do it wrong especially when you're new to it, just have to keep trying"

Renee : *Cry more*

Me : "........."

Anyway, after abit of coaxing, prep-talk and sayang-ing(she claimed that that's the only way to make her stop crying...), she did the first 2 lines of the song after 3-4 rounds of playing! See! Haiz.... I'm going to vomit blood soon....