Princess Stories Are Bad Influence

One of the "grown-up" shows that the kids and I watched together is "Chef At Home".

It shows daily on Channel AFC daily at 5.30 pm with a chef named Michael Smith, a big hulking man with shaggy hair and permanent smile and jest in his ways.

Today, in the middle of the show, Eu asked me if this man is married.

Curious to this line of question, I asked her why and so what. I was relieved that her answer was logical enough.

"If he is married, it means he's cooking for his family. If not, he is cooking for himself and there is so much food!"

But before I could take a breath in relief, Qi confirmed my fear that Princess stories are bad!

"Mom look! Baby De IS IN LOVE with the Chef At Home..."

I should banned all their fairy tales books or any stories that has anything to do with love from their book shelves...And get more dinosaurs books.

Calm Down When You're Mad

A few days ago, Qi imparted a new lesson she learnt from her show : when you are mad, you have to calm down.

I immediately used this to address her sometimes hot temper. And it was to my chagrin and amusement that she herself used this lesson against me.

Later that day, Eu complained that Qi played rough to her. Ready to reprimand her, I called Qi out of the room for explanation.

Instead of apologizing, she told me, "Mama, if I hit Che-Che, you have to CALM DOWN".

For someone who cannot be amused when I am in my disciplining mood, this was one of the few episode where she managed to clamped my mouth shut and I was forced to disguised my smile with a cough.

Bath Tub Magic

One of the scenario which easily raises the blood levels for mothers (with no saintly patience) like me - is not having the kids obey me on the spot.

We understand that they have their own mind and feelings - that it is impossible for them and unfair for us to expect them to stop whatever they are doing just because we told them to do something else.

So what do we do when we are faced with the same situations everyday where you have to repeatedly - for instance - call and remind them to come in from their early evening walkabouts to take a shower, at the risk of burning the food?

Find a reason for them to stop what they are doing by their own will!

For my kids, it's simply telling them that it's "BATH TUB TIME!".

And as if by magic, they will drop whatever it is they are holding, even leave their cousin brother in a lurch as they raced in door to ask "Whose turn is it to go first mum?!!"

When The Lumut Baby Is Home In Sabah

When I got the kids ready for our trip back to Kota Kinabalu last week, even Baby De was visibly excited.

It was as if she knew that she will be taking her first plane ride. And I was glad that she enjoyed her plane ride without much fuss - in fact, I thought she behaved like she was quite the pro at flying!

But if flying excites her, arriving at my parents' home was a different story.

For 2 straight days, the whole neighbourhood knew that we are home from the sound of her constant crying. She cried at everyone - and woe betide the ears of whoever dared enough to carry her.

Fortunately, on the third day, she began to warm to nearly everyone and had begun to smile and grin at most everyone. Well, she had better be - before she is left with her sisters and gran for a few days soon!

Kids Prayers

Whenever my kids and I prayed, I always ask them to say a short prayers in their own words. I taught them that praying is when they speak to God and that if they prayed sincerely, God will always listen.

Once after I gave them the usual reminder that God is listening to their prayers, Eu had the bright idea to focus on this :

"God, even though you are up there in heavan and we are down here on earth, we can still hear you..."

Not to be outdone, Qi prayed in her own version :

"God, I know you are up in the sky and we are down on the ground, but we can hear you. So talk to us."

Just as it was to me, I am sure that listening to kids' prayers is one of the most enjoyable job that God has to do.

Sleeping Beauty

When I get tired of Eu and Qi's boisterous games, I have a discovered a new way to occupy them without resorting to TV.

Dramatize any scene from a princess story!

And we did this activity a few mornings ago, after they had a super energetic and noisy game of bicycling - which I am sure was heard by the whole of our quiet neighbourhood.

One in particular was on Sleeping Beauty as she was about to touch the spindle of the spinning wheel. Eu was the evil witch disguised as the spinning woman and Qi was Sleeping Beauty.

Everything was going along as expected, with such dialogs :

Qi : "What are you doing?"
Eu : "I'm using the spinning wheel"
Qi : "Can I touch it?"
Eu : "Come closer.."

What was a little unexpected was their own twist :

Qi : "Do I have to PAY?"
Eu : "No, it's free"

Sleeping Disaster

Unlike Baby De who'd usually fall asleep within 5-10 mins of being put in her bed, it is much longer for both Eu and Qi.

It is rare that they can go to bed without them coming out at least once to bade us good night - again and again.

I definitely wonder about those kids we see on TV - tucked in, a kiss good night and they will close their eyes and sleep - are for real. Because this never happens with Eu and Qi - except when they are extremely tired or when we went out and they were half-asleep in the car.

Worse, they would only be asleep after their dimmed room has turned upside down - and after one or both were sent out of the room for a while. Their stuffed toys would be strewn all over the floor and their sleeping bodies in all sorts of angle - with their blankets kicked off.

Drama is putting it mildly because bedtime warzone is more like it.