Friends

I used to really really dislike Power rangers wen i was a kid. Now i like it...a bit la. Why? Because it has really helped Lauren n Luke find a common interest. They watch the shows tgetr. They quiz each other. They search for it on u tube. And they sing the songs tgthr.

It's helped them enjoy each others co for other stuff too. Like playing w each othr at the playgrd slides yest evening.

Birthday

Lauren is 9 this year. Well 8.. If i consider her birth month. November. Anyway. She was invited by her classmate, sue-ann to her birthday party at megakidz. Megakidz is a giant indoor playground in a shopping mall. Lauren likes these big playgrounds. No problem there. Our (hers, kevin and mine) worry...the super loud noises at birthday parties. Her last memory of a school friend's party at a shopping mall was not so great. That was 2 yrs ago.

Anyway we both prepped her. Picked the birthday present together. She helped prepare the birthday card. And she was quite excited when saturday, the party day, came. Everything started well. Wished sue ann happy birthday.handed the present over. Friend brought her to play. Ok. Then kevin remembers we need to preempt her on the party agenda. What happens, when. Next thng we notice, lauren seems really down. She wasn't crying. She seemed fearful. We got her aside and asked her what happened. After a while she told us 'the clown is going to throw a pie in my face!'. She was serious about it ok. I didnt know to laugh or cry. I was relieved at least. Kevin n i assured her tha was NOT going to happen. It took at least 5x before she believed us. Phew!

The rest of the party went well. Lauren sat further fromthe clown but she said that was her fav prt of the party.the noise was still too noisy for her. Kevin sat w her and she closed her ears when it was very noisy.

Lauren is coping well. God is wonderfully good.

What is Jagah?

Luke asked me, "What is zirafah in Malay, Mummy?" (he means in English la). So say, "giraffe". Ok. Good, he continues.

"Now what is jagah," to which I answer, "Oh, that means a guard". "Hah? What?", he exclaims. "No..I ask what is jagah?" I answer again, "A guard. You know...that's a person who takes care of something". Luke then answers, frustrated, "Then what do you call an elephant.....?"

Got it?

He was not happy when I burst out laughing. I think he felt I was rude!

Blood and Bones?

While in Singapore for Raya hols, Lauren tasted some delicious raspberry jams from Margaret's River, Perth. But before she bit into her bread with (that) jam, she looked whispered to me..."Mom...there's blood in my bread...!".

And when Ah Kim cooked the most delicious waffles, Lauren's little brother Luke (almost 4yrs) bit into a crust and exclaimed that "there's bones mom!"...

Oh, we had a great time in SG.

I'm a shrew????

A week ago, Lauren was riding home with me in the car. She was reading her new book, called The Unwilling With Sleeps Over. She came to a page and asked me, "Mummy, what's a terrified shrew?" I only knew The Taming of the Shrew, so I was not sure exactly what that meant. "Let's google and find out", I told her.

As soon as we got home, we googled and out came the 1st meaning for shrew. The ONE we all know...a fiery, illl tempered woman. Lauren asked what fiery was and I explained that meant a very, very fierce lady. She looked up at me, touched my hand and said innocently..."Mummy...you're a shrew..." If only a camera could capture the horror on my face!.

Finding solutions

It was 8.30pm and Lauren was playing disney computer games. Still school hols, so Lauren gets to go to bed a little later (9pm).

I reminded her that it was time to stop computer games. She says yes. Grabs her new Club Med book, clips it under her armpit...and continues playing. 8.45pm, and I tell her bedtime - NOW.

She gets it. And starts whining that she needs to read her book. I tell her "tomorrow". She starts tearing and says..."Nooooo...".

Since it is school hols, I decide to push her limits and stick to my earlier instruction - nope. bedtime now. Read the book tomorrow, since you chose to play PC games instead of read.

More tears.

Finally, she looks at me and says, "I know. I can read this book at daycare tomorrow, ok Mom?".

Now, aren't I just so proud of Lauren!

Great job girlie!

School holidays, year 2, term 1

Yippee! School holidays are here. 2 weeks of fun for Lauren and no school stress for Kevin and I. So far, we've managed to get our chores like washing school shoes done. A bit of swimming. We managed to get Lauren to wet her face (!) and hold her breath in the water. Of course she does not like wetting her face. I think it's quite an ordeal for her. But she's managing well. As a treat, we let her go to the playground after swimming.

She's been having trouble doing the monkey climb. Strangely enough, it is after swimming that she seems to be able to automatically monkey climb, on her own. My theory? The cycling in the water helps her left, right, left, right movements. So far, there is no other theory against this.

We're off to Club Med in two days. Let you guys know how things go then....