Funny Conversations

1. A 4-year-old brainstorming process:

Jie Jie: Uh-oh, Daddy has gone to sleep, now nobody can teach me how to do my homework already.
Mei Mei: Ask Mommy!
Jie Jie: Mommy doesn't know Chinese.
Mei Mei: Erm, ask Amah?
Jie Jie: Amah doesn't know Chinese either.
Mei Mei: Call your friends?
Jie Jie: Daddy will scold me one....
Mei Mei: He's slept, he won't know one.
Jie Jie: I don't know their numbers.
Mei Mei: Ask your teacher then.
Jie Jie: Cannot la, I don't know her number too.
Mei Mei: No, go and ask teacher tomorrow.
Jie Jie: Will be too late already.
Mei Mei: Let me see, which one you don't know?

Jie Jie showed Mei Mei her book. Mei Mei took a look and then asked: 1+1 = ?

Jie Jie: No la, not like this one la.. That's maths question.
Mei Mei: Then which one?
Jie Jie: You won't know also one la.. (And she started to get restless and worried).

Mei Mei went to my room and blurted out: Mommy, Jie Jie doesn't know how to do her homework.



2. Last 2 week, we were going back to Ipoh to celebrate Father's Day with my father. He had boiled some home-grown black sugar cane water for us. So I asked the girls what should they say to him.

Mei Mei: Amitofou, Amitaba. (She was taught to say this phrase as Thank You in school).
Jie Jie: No, you cannot say Amitaba to a Christian. That's not showing your respect.
Mei Mei: Then I'll say Xie Xie, since I'm a Chinese.
Jie Jie: I think the best is Thank You, that's the safest.
Mei Mei: No, I don't want to say Thank You. That's amoh.
Jie Jie: I like Amoh, I still prefer Thank You.

哈巴狗

一隻哈巴狗, 坐在大門口
眼睛黑油油, 想吃肉骨頭
一隻哈巴狗, 吃完肉骨頭
尾巴搖一搖, 向我點點頭

SJ said this is my song. I was very surprised at first. When I asked her why, she replied, "Because you work in 哈巴狗 mah...."

Boyfriends

I couldn't imagine that my girls would start talking about boyfriends at the age as young as four! Gosh, I thought to myself, I couldn't remember having any crush when in primary school, and my small one has not even enter primary yet. What's happening to the kids nowadays?!

She even had the gall to tell the boy to marry her when they are bigger next time! LOL! And then, the boy no longer studying in the same school now. She asked me, "Mommy, how am I going to marry HP next time, because he's not coming to school anymore?" I told her, "Maybe next time you'll meet him again?" But then I quickly added, "Lets find another guy, ok?" And she did! So fast!

The elder one is not that bold, at least she kept her feelings to herself. She shared it with me, of course, but she didn't go and tell the boy, thank goodness. Gosh, gosh, gosh, I still haven't recover from such shock yet. Someone please tell me, is this normal, or only my kids are experiencing this?

Little Dancer

Last night, SJ suddenly got the dancing fever. I have no idea what got into her, she just danced non-stop! This is what I managed to capture :)



Oops, Jie Jie wasn't so happy and wanted me to capture her instead!

Another Banana

That day, Sze Yi and Sze Juin were talking to each other about something, I can't really recall. Then when Sze Juin mumbled something in Mandarin, Sze Yi didn't quite get it and told her sister, "Don't say in Chinese, pls say in English". But of course Sze Juin don't know what she meant and continued saying in Mandarin.

And Sze Yi kept asking her sister to repeat that in English. Hubby then chipped in, "Why, you're not Chinese? Why have to say in English?"

Sze Yi replied, "No, I'm English".

Daddy's first thought was, "Gosh, another banana like Mommy!" (LOL!)

Honestly, I've seen many scenarios where Sze Yi requested us to repeat what we said in English, like the colors, etc... because she didn't know how to say that in Mandarin. And it's funny to hear her say things in Mandarin at times, her slang was like an Amoh trying to speak Mandarin!

Sigh, and we planned to send her to a Chinese school later...

My little mousey

Yesterday when I went to fetch Sze Juin from the babysitter's house, she told me that my little mousey's getting very good at getting her attention.

Scenario 1
Babysitter: Ni chiang huai dan, Auntie bu  yau ni liao
(You're so naughty, Aunty don't want you already)
SJ: Yau la, yau la, yau la (kept on saying until the babysitter have to say what SJ wished to hear)

Scenario 2
When the babysitter tried to ignore her, SJ would use both her hands to pull the babysitter's face till she looked at her

I guess she'll miss my little mousey when she finished her contract end of this month. And it surprised me when the babysitter said bye bye to her, SJ replied, "See you!" and happily trotted away after me, before she went on with our usual conversations.

SJ: Mommy ah, Daddy leh?
Me: At home
SJ: Jie Jie leh?
Me: At home
SJ: Aunty leh?
Me: At her house too
SJ: Oh, ni kan, Aunty chuan, mei mei (Oh, you see, Aunty wears, pretty - pointing to her blouse and pants)

Recently the babysitter had given SJ and SY some very nice clothes and shoes too, which SJ happily paraded in front of MIL (she really turned round and round, with one hand holding her buttock, in front of MIL). What a funny sight - we couldn't help laughing as she kept saying, "Amah, ni kan" (Amah, you see) and turned until MIL paid attention to her.

When A 20-month Old Spice Up Her Vocab...

Recently, Sze Juin picked up a lot of slangs in her vocab. Some, I'm not sure where she picked that up from, like Mommy ah... Daddy ah.. etc (which she kept saying sometime in Dec last year), but obviously the rest were from her sister. For the past few weeks, she added 'lo' and 'lah' into her vocabulary as well. It's funny when you hear a 20-month old speaking words like "bu yau la (don't want la)", "mei you la (don't have la)", "no lah", mommy lai lah (mommy come la)", "sorry lo!", etc.

There's a funny incident that happened last night. She was very excited and it's hard to put her to sleep. She stood on the bed, folded both arms, and kept saying, "Angry!". When I paid no attention to her, she called her Daddy, "Daddy, Ni Kan... Angry!" (Daddy, you see.. Angry!). Then, she lay down with her butts facing up, put both her hands at the side of her face, and imitated her Jie Jie sulking pose, while swinging both her legs in the air (her knees touching the bed). I wished I had taken a video so it saved me all these description. Anyway, she sulked there for awhile, and when nobody entertained her, she suddenly said, "Sorry lo!".

That went on for awhile, so I took Sze Yi out with me to sleep in another room, since Sze Juin was disturbing her Jie Jie from falling into sleep. But I heard her disturbing her Daddy from the other room, and when Daddy didn't response, she called out, loud and clear, "Boy! Sorry lo!". If you've read this post earlier, you'll know why she called her Daddy Boy :) And that's the first time I heard her called him that too.

Breastfeeding Humour

I didn’t realize that I have such influencing power on my kids at such an early age when I chose to breastfeed. Why did I say so?

1. At ~2.5 year old, Sze Yi insisted to bring a nappy cloth everywhere together with her Ernie, sat down, pulled up her blouse up, put the nappy cloth underneath, and nursed Ernie, imitating the way I breastfed Sze Juin. That’s because I was very leaky then, so I had to use the nappy cloth to suppress the leaking side while nursing. She did this outside, even in front of the babysitter, although I told her that Mommy didn’t breastfeed in public.

2. At ~20 months, Sze Juin would put her baby doll at my breast, asking me to breastfeed her baby doll too!
I sure hope when they become mommies later, they will follow my steps to breastfeed their children.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On another side note, SJ would be in all sorts of positions when she’s nursing – sitting, standing, lying on top of me, or even squatting in front of me. She could also turn 360 degree while nursing, I didn’t know how she did it. One day, she was turning round and round while nursing, and I felt very painful, so I told her to stop.

Me: Juin Juin, can you pls stop turning round and round? You’re hurting Mommy.
Sze Yi: Haha, like a sharpener!

I couldn’t agree more!

A Memorable Weekend

Last weekend, my parents came over to stay with us. Both the kids were very excited, of course! Even SJ sat quietly in the car seat while I drove them to fetch my parents at the bus station (hubby was having a teambuilding event that time). You see, SJ could struggle out of the car seat by herself, unlike her Jie Jie who had never done such thing before. So, it was rather dangerous for me to take them both out alone, because SJ could never sit still.

Nevertheless, things sailed smoothly, and she only struggled out when we're waiting for them at the bus station. By then, my parents had arrived so it's still manageable. Come to think of that, it's been a long time since I had ever enjoyed any weekend as much, and suddenly I just felt as if all the burdens have been lifted off my shoulder. There's nothing like having someone to rely on, to relieve you when you need them most, and to offer advice as well as support when you felt like the whole world is falling onto you. Well, that's exactly how I felt. I'm so glad I have such great and loving parents, and I wish I could be the same for my kids too.

So many things had happened that weekend. For one, SJ could play on her own at the playground. For the first time, I felt that she's ready to explore things on her own. And I let her wander on her own... see how much she enjoyed herself!

SJ discovered a world of her own!

That Friday night, guess where we took them to?

Yes, the recently opened Hark Rock Hotel in Penang. It was our 2nd time there, and we didn't took any pictures the first time we're there. But this time, we're fully equipped (ah yes, we've finally got a new camera!). Initially we've thought of having a hotel stay there since SY's birthday fell on a weekend, and she loved hotel stay soooo much. However, it was fully booked (yes, we're very bad planners, everything waited until the last minute), so our pockets were saved :P


The kids were having a blast of their time, especially SY. See how she danced around to the music. They also loved to laze around on the sofa, enjoying the band's performance. It was such a carefree and easy night - just the right mood to relax and rock away.

While the kids are enjoying themselves, hubby was busy with his new toy.

There's an LCD screen at the lounge area

A Collection of Statues

This is actually a pillar! The make-you-look-slim pillar

At the poolside

Nice beach by the poolside

The rocking statues on the hotel rooftop

Where do you want to go?

Enjoying the night breeze at the beach

Our camera man

Finally the camera man got to be in the picture too!

The hotel night scene

Our rocking princess

She just loved to make funny poses!

Overall, we had an enjoyable night. The kids were tired and slept right away on the journey home. Can't blame them though, they had been rocking away whole night :P

The next day, we went to another beach at the other side of the island.

Nice beach at Balik Pulau

Despite of the hot weather and also inappropriately dressed, the kids had a fun time playing with their new beach toys.
We toured the island, but unfortunately we couldn't find any good durians along the way. Still the nice scenery and fresh air made the trip worthwhile. By the time we reached home, everyone was so tired that we slept thru the evening. Even by night time, we're too lazy to go out for dinner so we ordered Domino Pizzas.

As bedtime was approaching, I changed them into their new pajamas. And to my dismay, they suddenly became super active again. Do you know why the sudden change of mood? Doh! They were excited to be dressed in the same pajamas! Wrong move!

Mei Mei giving Jie Jie a birthday hug on the eve of Jie Jie's birthday

Luckily my parents were around to entertain them, so it's not that tiring for us.

Playing toot toot train with Poh Poh

Ah, nothing lasts forever, yeah. One moment they were playing together, the next they were angry with each other!

Angry!

Luckily, they made peace with each other finally. How nice if we adults can forget and forgive as easily...

Jie Jie putting Mei Mei to sleep

Little Things That Surprise Me

Scenario 1:

SJ saw her Jie Jie fell down, and I went to sayang her Jie Jie. Not long later, she imitated her Jie Jie's falling down action, and waited for me to sayang her! She actually repeated that several times just to get my attention that day.

Scenario 2:
SJ asked me to open the cupboard door, saying yiu yiu (oil). So I took out the oil. I was wondering what she's up to, when she pulled up her baby doll's shirt and ask me to apply the oil on her baby doll's tummy.

Scenario 3:

She got an electronic cow lantern from her Chim Po, where the cow can walk. I told her that it’s a niu niu (cow in Mandarin). Now when I got her other types of lantern, (bird and fish), she would still refer to that lanterns as niu niu. (LOL!)
Also, we once took the girls out for a walk with their lanterns at night. So after that incident, everytime she went out, she would want to bring the lantern along and said kai kai .

Scenario 4:

The two sisters were playing together and then suddenly the big one bully the small one. So we asked Jie Jie to say sorry to Mei Mei. After Jie Jie told her "Sorry!", Mei Mei said, "Gau" (clever in hokkien).

Ah Kong

SY has been talking about her Ah Kong lately. She would tell me her Ah Kong loved her very much, took her to play at the robot station (I have no idea where she got these new words robot station from), bought stickers for her, etc.

One day, she was telling me that she got new stickers that day. I asked her, was it from her friends? Her friends at school love to give her stickers.

She said, "No, this one my Ah Kong gave me one".

Then, later she told me it's lost. I replied, "Ask your Ah Kong to buy you a new one la".

Here's her reply, "Cannot. My Ah Kong die already la".

And it happened that night was the first day of the 7th month in Chinese Calendar, which was the Ghost Festival.

When a Child Speaks...

As my little girl is growing up, I was rather taken aback when I heard her expressions at times. Here are some of the things that took me by surprise - I wonder where she learnt all this!

Scenario 1:
One day, Sze Yi was trying to piece her alphabets and numbers on her drawing board. Halfway thru, I asked her to brush her teeth so that I could prepare her for bed. She followed me to the bathroom after much persuasion. That time, Sze Juin was eagerly trying to have her hands on the alphabets too. So when she saw her sister went away, she quickly went there to play with the alphabets. Sze Yi quickly rushed over, trying to prevent SJ from messing her stuffs. She succeeded, and then I heard her say, "Phew, that is close!"


Scenario 2:
SY was reciting the 三字经 with Daddy last night. They went until very far, even Daddy was very impressed. Of course being a banana, Mommy didn't know what's going on. Then I heard her said, "Daddy, let's stop for a while. My mouth want to rest now." LOL! Daddy was speechless!


Scenario 3:
Hubby was showing SY our wedding photo presentations that I did last time. She was very excited and kept asking a lot of questions, "Why Mommy and Daddy posed like that ler, etc. " Then, she told Hubby, "Daddy, I want to marry you too!" I was wondering to myself if she knew that marriage is between a girl and a boy - is that why she told Hubby that she wanted to marry him and not me? Well, that very night, when I was getting her ready to brush her teeth, she said to me, "Mommy, I want to marry you!" I told her that I would have to be her prince in order to marry her, but I'm not a man. She didn't want to listen, so I guess she didn't know the significance of that yet. Later, she continued on, "Mommy, you have to wait until I grow up first, ok? After I'm this tall, then I'll marry you. "

128!

Recently Sze Juin kept saying 128 (in mandarin), and MIL really went to buy the number. However, when it came out, it's 118! So when Sze Juin kept blabbering on 1128 one day, MIL said, "Really meh? That day you tell Amah 128, but 118 open instead!"

The Happy Wanderers

I love to go a wondering,
Along the mountain track,
And as I go, I love to sing,
My knapsack on my back.

This song Jie Jie could memorize by heart,
Even though I don’t really know,
That doesn’t mean I’m not smart,
Wait till you hear what I know!

Though I can’t sing, I could talk,
Coz when I say ‘walk-walk’,
Mommy had no choice but put me down,
Don’t worry, Mom, I’m not going to drown!

Eagerly I waved to her and said Bye!,
Off I went on my adventure,
I met new people and I said Hi!,
Isn’t it exciting in my new venture?

With Jie Jie as a companion,
That’s more than one could ask for,
Though the way she held my hands hurts,
Her only reason was to keep me safe while we explore.

Now let me bring you on a detour
Of my new found skills if I may,
But please bear with my poetry for now,
Coz I can’t find anything that rhymes!

I’m now good in imitating,
By putting my finger in my mouth,
Only to pull it out quickly, saying Aow!
Just like how Mommy used to shout,
Every time I bite on her finger!

Now, I would also point to the durians,
Or anything prickly or hot,
And shout my famous cry Aow!
Before looking at Mommy and smile

Oh when Jie Jie’s angry,
You should see how she folded her arms,
To which I find amusing
And imitated her as well.

Ok now let’s back to our wandering,
Though I’m hopeless in singing,
I could still hum along,
Especially if that song ends with tack, tack, tack!

While Jie Jie was Doing Homework...

Jie Jie just left to sharpen her color pencils...

And when she came back, Mei Mei was still busy....

sorting things out!

Dotted Lines

Last few days, Hubby and I was teaching Sze Yi how to write K. It was her homework for that day. She was lazy and didn't want to write. She relied too dependantly on the dotted lines for help. We tried to make her write it on her own, but she kept saying, "I don't know."

Then suddenly, she looked at Daddy's face at very close proximity and exclaimed, "Hey, Daddy, why your face got dotted lines also?". She pointed to the dried pimples marks on his face.

I couldn't contain my laughter upon hearing that. However, Daddy maintained a calm expression and proceeded to guide her with the K.

The next day, hubby said, "Maybe I need a facial too. To get rid of all those dotted lines".

Conversation with Jesus

My MIL told me this a few days back. She saw Sze Yi lying at her bed and mumbling something to herself. That was after she got scolded by hubby & me for doing something naughty which I couldn't remember now. Curious, she asked Sze Yi what was she saying. Here's how the conversation went.

MIL: What are you saying there, Sze Yi?
Sze Yi: I'm talking to Jesus.
MIL (surprised): What are you telling Jesus?
Sze Yi: Gei Amah de jiao mei you tong tong liao (let Amah's leg no more pain pain)
MIL (touched): Gao...Jesus kong Amah ka e hou boh? (Did Jesus say Amah's leg will heal?)
Sze Yi: Beh, Jesus say beh (Cannot, Jesus say cannot)

Aren't she cheeky? You see, I've been teaching her how to say her night prayers. After Amah had a fall that day, we would pray for her leg to heal faster. Besides that, I also taught her to pray for the rest of the members of the family. And she would add on her own - also for 2nd Chik Chik's Jie Jie, 3rd Chik Chik's Jie Jie, and Chiu Chiu's Jie Jie. 3 Jie Jie in total. She was referring to their girlfriends, of course!

After I've completed the prayers with her, she would normally ask me.
Mommy, what did Jesus say?
I would say, "Jesus said Ok."

But, I didn't know what makes her say that Jesus said Amah's leg cannot be cured! And here's another funny part.

MIL: You pray to Jesus one ah? Not Puchuma meh? (she was referring to our Goddess of Mercy).
Sze Yi: No, I pray to Jesus one.