Me? A nag? Really?

This is what my friends say I have turned into since I became a mother of 3....I think my maid would definitely agree cos I can go on and on about one thing. I know of friends who are mothers and I can definitely confirm that they are naggy... Though dun ever expect them to concur! Seems like being a nag is a natural thing after becoming a mother huh?

Just like yesterday when Tasnym fell on the escalator and even as I carried her away, the first words from my mouth was, see I told you, this is what happened when you don't want to listen and hold my hand.... My hub insisted that it was my fault cos I should have been in control rather than relinquish it to her (he is the other nagger in the house)... easy for him to say, he is not the one who had to deal with the slippery hand that keep tugging and twisting out of your hand... just cos she thinks that she is old enough to stand on the escalator on her own... and if I insist on holding on to her wrist, she will go Ow, Ow, pain pain! ... so drama when I am not even gripping! So maybe with this episode she will learn enough not to stand on the escalator without holding hands and I can stop nagging for once... you think? She does not even want to hold my hand as we go thru throngs of crowds at the malls...

Every night, how can the nagger in the house not come out? Go and brush your teeth (x10) Go and put on your sleeping underwear (x20) Go and urine before you sleep (x30) Dun read the book lying down (x40)

Its the same in the morning, wake up, drink your milk, go and bathe, put on your uniform, comb your hair..... all x50.... how can I not turn into a nagger, you tell me?

Primary 1? Already?

The girls in their outfits for racial harmony day...

Sarah was registered for Primary 1 last week. She is now officially going to attend Tanjong Katong Primary as of next year.... and nothing can make me feel so old as that fact.... not even the fact that my next birthday is coming up fast.... nothing alerts you so much to your age as seeing your children sprouting up like taugeh in front of your very eyes!

Before I know it she is going to be in Secondary school.... with all the younger ones in Primary school... and then I will be fully certified as OLD! And to think that my primary school days are just like yesterday in my memory.... I remembered my mum being with me those first few days in school and also at recess, making sure I do the right things. I doubt they allow parents to follow their children anymore now right? Now I worry, would she know how to go to the toilet, would she know which food to buy and what not to buy? Would she be ok? To think that she is so fussy about eating... she may just end up telling the makcik that she wants just plain rice or just plain noodles without a single drop of gravy, meat or veggy... and I may get a referral to CPS yet for neglect!

Luckily we did not have much problems registering her as the daddy was an old boy of Haig Boys. I don't think our parents use to bother so much about which schools we go to, unless they had a speciific alumni. You just register at the school nearest your home, full stop. No thinking about what CCAs the school offer, their PSLE results etc... I think we make it so much harder for ourselves, worrying about every possibility. Now having registered her in a school at Katong, we have to think about the commute from where we live....and thinking about moving homes.... yet another headache...

When I first heard about Tanjong katong, I liked the fact that they had a large international community in the school and was getting a reputation for such. I had wanted my kids to be exposed to the different cultures .... I had also liked the fact that they had a good sports culture... (still an Olympic-athlete-mama wannabe!) So it was a good thing when we found out that the school had been a merger of Seraya Pri and Haig Boys and so we had auto admission.... why did they close down Haig Boys I wonder?

My next concern was how Tasnym would cope with Sarah entering P1. She has always been ultra possessive of her sister and true enough she made the nice decision of not going to school anymore when Sarah leaves kindergarten.

Tasnym: Mama, when Sarah go Primary 1, I don't want to go to school, I go stay at nenek's house!

Only when we persuaded her that Daniah would be joining her in school that she finally agreed... my mum though started worrying at the idea of Tasnym taking care of Daniah! It took us much persuasion for her to agree to go to school when Sarah went for her P1 registration... I guess the thought of keeping her doyens of boy-friends in school waiting for her made her change her mind! Another worry for my mum who is worried that Tasnym has more boy friends than girls!

Next Jos Yeo? Not!

Sarah: I don't want!

Thats the only response I could get from her as I persuade her to go for swimming classes. Not even the fact that her best friend was in a swim class and I was trying to enrol her in the same one could change her mind.... Not even if it meant she had a friend in the class....

Tasnym? She is even worse! She would be screaming bloody murder and hanging on to me with a death grip if I ever bring her to a deeper pool!

Go down the water slide? No way!

Their fear? The water, deep water to be precise. I wonder if it had anything to do with us bringing Sarah in to the deep pool when she was a baby and letting go.... I was just persuaded by all those commercials of babies wide eyed swimming in the pool that I had given it a go.... hmmm.... maybe not the thing to do heh?

Actually she reminds me of me when I was much younger.... my primary school had swimming as its PE lessons and we would trek our way to the Yan Kit Swimming Pool to go for our lessons. I would cling on to the sides and not let go.... and if anyone had ever been to Yan Kit swimming pool... the deep pool is super deep! The teacher without fail would write in my report book... she must get over her fear of the water... hmmm ok......

Even younger yet, I remembered wearing my swimming float and yet never getting any wetter as I remain seated by the side! Hmmm... not to far off from what Sarah is showing now anyway.... Actually... Sarah and Tasnym are way better than what I ever was in the pool at their age...And yes I can swim now... thanks to lessons while in JC.... though not good... but well enough to get over the other side... uh... not length wise ok... just the width.... people are always so puzzled as to why I have never done scuba diving before... cos I can't swim 50 m la deh!

Oh well.... Jos Yeo she definitely is not (and neither is her Mama)!

Lets see what other sports I can train her up for the Olympics....

Plastic Panadol?

Today is my second day at home on MC as I am nursing a fever and a bad cold... which explains why I suddenly have the time to update my blog...

H1N1? I have no idea and neither do the GP what with the community spread and all...

You know with the current situation, its hard for someone like me who generally tends to self medicate rather than go to the doctor... not that I am afraid or anything, just that I can't stand having to wait so long in queue, especially not when I am sick when I would just prefer to be lying in bed than to sit in queue on some uncomfortable plastic chair, staring at the electronic number board just wishing for it to magically change to your number.... as you glance nervously at your cardboard number slip.... although you know, just like you had known ten beeps ago that your number would only be coming in after no 29 and now its only at 10.... sigh... I think it just makes me more sick sitting at the doctor's clinic... I would say thats where any community spread would be happening... what with the old man hacking away with mouth uncovered oblivious to all the horrified looks around him ... to the child who coughs right into your face.... I think for the elderly they think its best to let all the germs out rather than keep it within them, so dun keep the orifices covered!!

I only go to the doctor when I really need the MC or when I am really sick that I need antibiotics. And even then I take my plastic chair and sit far away.... who knows how clean or dirty these clinics really are? How frequently or thoroughly do you think they can swab those chairs? There was even one time when I actually got bitten by bedbugs at the clinic and went into the doctor's office with fresh red welts on my arms! Uh yes I still go to the same clinic.... what can I say, the doctor is good.

I mean this is only true of course if you just have the common ailments.... I dun think I really need someone looking down my throat to tell me I have a throat infection, uh yes wouldn't I know that already considering how painful it is to swallow? Did you know that you could get very good medication through the pharmacies? And its much cheaper too! I do think that pharmacists need to get more recognition for the job they do. Actually they are pretty good at prescribing medication that works for common ailments. I found it so funny when I hear of people who refuses to buy the exact same medication from the pharmacist preferring to get it from the doctor, thinking that it would be fake maybe? Uh folic acid is folic acid wherever you get it from... and this is Singapore, not some country where the panadol may have been mixed with some plastic powder or something! If you've got a prescription, you can even get the medication from the pharmacist without having to queue at the doctors. That saves you time (no number cards), and saves you from having to deal with the horrors of germs and viruses at the clinic!

Standard Chartered Run

And run they did! Both girls did us proud with Sarah going all the way and Tasnym running about 3/4 and walking for the rest. Now they liked running so much, they have been bugging us to bring them for runs on weekend... not that we had time to do that since the Kids run...

I think we will definitely go for it again, and it was a nice touch having the girls get medals for their effort...
The girls with their medals and tired out from the run

Thought it was funny though how some parents were pressurising their kids so much during the run... ease up will you? Its just a fun run, not even a competition... it reduced some kids to tears the way their parents were pushing them to keep running! Mr! The medal is not even real!

Cakap Melayu

The non-Malay speaking members in the house!

I feel so ashamed... my kids can't speak Malay, especially Tasnym who with her pelatness somehow completely changes the word altogether... poloh-poloh?

I thought that I had it covered, speak English at home, speak Malay at my mum's and learn more Malay in school... surely that would be enough... until I realised that even my mum got drawn to speaking in English as they refuse to respond in Malay... and the teacher in school faced exactly the same problem... and to think that the girls actually attend an Islamic Montessori where most of the kids are Malay... and yet they dun speak Malay! Worse yet, to my amusement as I watched the girls play with their friends, at a recent birthday party, they actually speak English with an accent... dun ask me American, Australian or British... sounds like a complete rojak to me! I could only roll my eyes in response!

So I decided something needed to be done before my kids start failing Malay in school. Malay? How can you even fail Malay? My cousin's son did precisely that and it spurred me into action. So Saturday became speak Malay day... where I would not respond if they don't speak in Malay... you should see the look of dismay on Tasnym's face and exasperation on Sarah's! It even silenced them from talking as they figured it would be much easier to just remain silent that to say anything at all!

I would say that 2 weeks down the road... my effort has borne some fruit as Tasnym now speaks a little more Malay than she used to in her short 4 years of life! They still sound very odd though...: )

As for Daniah, I don't even know what language she speaks... a possible cross of some tribal stuff that requires every twist of the tongue... and the funny thing is she will speak complete sentences just that we have no idea what she just said!

Hello Okto, goodbye Disney

At least for the older girls that is... no longer does Disney hold much fascination for Sarah... her favourite channel now is Okto... much to my chagrin as I am fully opposing to the very best I can, their watching violent cartoons on TV... not that I am very much in control as the remote control dun seem to reach Eunos from my office! My mum is not much of a help as she allows the girls to hold full reign over the tv! Her excuse "I can't control them... they can switch the tv on their own!" Since they've learnt how to change the channels and control the remote... they have full reign over the tv...

Even at home, Channel 34 has become so passe as they start preferring 32 instead with the more action packed cartoons rather than pocoyo and the like, meant for the younger folks. Pocoyo and little einsteins have been relegated to Powerpuff girls and Power rangers! But this would also mean that Daniah has no chance to develop her own tastes and watch appropriate fare as she is dictated by her sisters' taste... Already as it is, she is playing toys meant for older kids and not with her own.

My kids are getting more rowdy and I really want to blame it on the TV. But I also wish that my mum can be more firm with them in ensuring that they dun watch certain shows. Funny thing is they only reiterate this whenever I am around and start changing channels when I come home! I know TV is the easy way out, rather than having to entertain them and manage their squabbles, switch it on... that settles everything... I guess it also does not help that Okto only shows more appropriate fare in the mornings, when the girls are in school, while the more violent stuff goes on in the afernoon...