Taking the Kids to Work

A few weeks ago I had to take Adik to work with me. Luckily it was only for about an hour and he had roti to keep him sitting quietly next to me. (I know, it's hard to imagine the words "adik" and "sitting quietly" in the same sentence, but hey, stranger things have happened.)

Today I took Abang to the office. It's not my office, but the office where I had to do some final proofreading before going to print. It wasn't really a choice since Atok and Cikgai had their hands full with Cuz and AJ and Wan wouldn't be able to handle both boys by herself at home.

Abang had agreed to bring his homework along to do while I did my work. Sometimes at home we have a race to see who finishes homework first but this time he said "if you have a lot of work then we race but if you have a bit only then we don't race". At some point he has to learn that he can't win all the time. Well, his kindergarten sports day is coming up soon. Maybe there will be teachable moments then.

Anyway, back to today. He was very cooperative for the most part, actually sitting and doing his homework. Just once in awhile he would spring up and go for a short walk to the door and come back. If I know my son, that would be because he was actually very tired and sleepy and he's trying to keep awake.



He managed to finish all his school homework - 4 books of colouring and / or writing, 1 page each except Maths with 2 pages - by the time I was ready to leave. As a reward, I took him to the nearby kopitiam and we had a roti bakar. During this time he decided to do his e.nopi homework and even finished one booklet!

I think it was a good experience for both of us. He got a glimpse at what I do and saw what the material looked like on the computer and how it gets amended before printing. For me, it was a bit like carrying a child on a sling and working the paddy fields except with air conditioning.

Happy Birthday, Abang!

A year older, a year ... taller? Well, I'm sure he IS a year wiser.

He's been very much into the Ben 10 cartoon character so he asked for a "Ben 10 cake" for his birthday. Since there was no way I could make one with any of the aliens on it, I decided to go for the "easy" design of the Omnitrix (that's the watch that Ben wears that turns him into any of 10 aliens, although now I am told that number has risen to 20).

After many hours of labouring in a hot kitchen, this is what I came up with:

I honestly was not absolutely pleased with it but Abang's face lit up when he saw it, so that was enough for me. He wanted to have it in kindergarten and share it with his classmates. When I sent him and Adik, I informed the teacher that the cake is for them to enjoy with their classmates, she asked me, "Will you be coming later to join in the cake cutting?"

Abang told us that sometimes "Mummies and Daddies also go upstairs and have birthday cake" when his classmates celebrate their birthdays at kindergarten. Tempting as it was to do that - would be nice to see how the boys do in their school environment - but I don't think they'd have as much fun if I was around. So I declined.

When I came home I decided to make some cupcakes for the teachers since Daddy and I find that they are generally very good at what they do and also very accommodating. Personally I thought these turned out better than Abang's cake but of course this was easier:

I hope they enjoyed it!

Happy birthday Abang!

The Jinx Gods

As predicted, I jinxed it. I angered The Jinx Gods when I proudly blogged that "Adik hasn't had a peeing accident in kindergarten since the third day".

The next day, the absolute very next day, Adik had a peeing accident. The day after that, he had not just a peeing accident but also spilt water all over his shirt! So he came home that day in his spare shorts AND shirt.

By the way, Adik is very specific about referring to his and Abang's kindergarten as "kindergarten" and not "school". When Daddy asked him, "Adik, you want Daddy to send you and Abang to school today?" he said, "No, I want Daddy to send to eeen-der-gar-ten".

So there you have it!

Oh yes, I think TJG (that's The Jinx Gods in Mummy-lingo) is having fun with Mummy. Last week, we went to Atok's house and Mummy forgot to bring spare diaper pull ups for Adik's nap. And the spare ones at Atok's house have all been used. But Atok is quite cool and he didn't mind napping Adik who only wore underwear and not diaper pull ups for his nap.

Not sure if I've mentioned this before, but when Adik naps with Atok, he gets cradled for the entire length of the nap as Atok sits on his comfortable IKEA chair and Adik has a pillow to rest on.

About 1 hour 20 minutes before his bladder gave way. Luckily most of the accident landed on Atok - easier to clean than the IKEA chair, or pillow!

Of course the very next day I sent a huge bag of replacement spare clothes and diaper pull ups to Atok's house, together with a thousand apologies (again) for the peeing accident. On Friday afternoon, Adik napped again with Atok and this time - hooray - he had a diaper pull up to wear.

And, as predicted, his diaper was dry after a 2hr10min nap.

Which is great, cos he's usually very good about going to the loo:

Kindergarten Report: Adik

This is Adik's third week at kindergarten. The first few days he was quite keen to go because he'd been saying "Adik want go school" obviously wondering how come Abang gets all the fun and he has to stay home.

After a weekend of staying home, however, he probably figured Hey! It's more fun to stay home. So Monday morning proved somewhat difficult to get him to go but then hey, we're committed at this point so I just had to go ahead and send him even though he cried as I left.

The next day he had a slight fever and a runny nose so we gave him a couple of days off school. By Wednesday evening I had to psyche him up to prep him that he was going to school on Thursday and he was quite agreeable to the idea.

Basically, I asked him, "Adik, tomorrow do you want to bring chocolate milk to drink at school?"

That's when his eyes lit up. "Nak!"

"And some Koko Krunch also?"

"Nak!"

Daddy thinks we shouldn't be 'bribing' him with food but I say, hey, whatever works!

I find that prepping him about what to do, or eat, or play in school the afternoon/ evening before going to school helps a lot. Rather than springing a surprise on him in the morning. This way he's prepared for it.

Occasionally he might make a feeble attempt at skipping school, "Adik don't want go school, Mummy, Adik want go home." This usually happens in the car on the way to school so I still managed to talk him into going.

If we're early enough, then usually his teacher (and Abang's teacher too, sometimes) will be the one waiting at the gate. If this happens then he's always happy to go in with her. But if we're a bit late and it's the maid who waits at the gate then he'll insist on my sending him in.

Now I think he's quite used to the idea of going to kindergarten that it's become a routine already for him. This morning he was a little cranky and whiny but still managed to send him without much fuss.

Oh yes, aside from the first two days at school when he peed in his pants, so far he's only had one other peeing accident in school. Similarly, at home so far in the past month he's only had one peeing accident.

Of course, I've jinxed it now, haven't I?

Not Sticking to My Resolution

Oh, I have SO not been sticking to my resolution. Mummy should be flogged for allowing her sons to languish in front of the computer!

Ever since I chased them all over KLCC on Monday, I have not taken them for that walk, or made them wipe my car (dang!) and only once got Adik outside to play in the garden and help me water the plants.

As it was raining this afternoon, I did a feeble attempt to get them off the computer and do some painting instead. It usually just involves them splashing a variety of paint on some drawing block. To my horror, we ran out of paint.

To their delight, they ran straight back to the computer. Aaaaaaaa.....

Well, this Saturday morning Daddy and I are planning to wash my car. As in "wash the car ourselves", and not "get the car washed". I'm sure Abang and Adik would love to main air and, um, help us wash my gigantic van.

That ought to get them sweating.

Sticking to My Resolution

Unintentionally, I stuck to my resolution of making the boys run around and get more exercise. Cuz and AJ's grandfather is visiting from the US for a few days and I thought it would be fun to hang out with him and the boys this afternoon.

As it turns out, they were headed to KLCC so we made our way there after lunch. For the next 1.5 hours the boys were exercising all over KLCC (as was Mummy to ensure they didn't get into any trouble) with quick pit stops to fill hungry but energetic little tummies.

[Here's a rare QUIET moment captured on the cameraphone]

Our last stop was the KLCC park. Well, we didn't really venture to the park just outside the mall by the water fountain. All 4 boys went completely NUTS there, running back and forth and in circles. Needless to say Wan was freaking out because they were running off into the distance and being so close to the water too.

Atok Tony was trying desperately to snap photos of Abang and Adik and he finally asked me, "I hope you have high speed cameras to snap their pictures!"

Truer words were never spoken. Ok, time to rest. Enough exercising already.

Git Off Yer Butt

I've been trying to get the boys to be more active lately. I realised that they're playing on the computer more and more and playing outside less and less.

It's also a known fact that exercise helps build up the appetite for thin folks (I assume that includes children). Here's hoping that it will work with Abang and Adik! So I've set myself a goal of getting the boys out there in the evenings whenever it's not raining, playing in the garden at least, if not going out for a walk to the playground.

I hope I can stick to my resolution! Here's some pictorial evidence:

This is at the nearby Pasar Tani. It's quite fun to go to (the greens are so fresh!) and the boys enjoyed it too.

I know - this looks like a random bunga raya. But it's from the bunga raya tree that we planed outside the house and I actually snapped a photo of it when we went out for a walk. Really!

And this one is my favourite. As soon as I mentioned wiping my car down, both boys jumped at the chance and grabbed a rag each. Ahh, yes, I'm enjoying this while it lasts.

History Repeats Itself

I took Adik with me to run an errand this morning since he had the flu and was off school. Although he's toilet trained at home, just to be safe I put him in his pull-ups when we go out. That doesn't stop me from taking him to the loo at various malls, but it's for those in-case-he-needs-to-pee-while-in-the-car scenarios.

On our way home, he said, "Mummy, Adik nak kencing on grass. Pweeeeeees, Mummy. Adik nak kencing."

"Huh? Adik nak kencing on the grass?"

"Yes."

So I look around and there was plenty of grass on the road shoulder (away from people's houses, thank goodness, as it would just be so wrong to pee in front of someone's house) so I pulled up and let him do his thing.

I was reminded of the time I had to do that with Abang, on Lebuhraya Mahameru of all places.

I'm expecting more deja vu moments.

A Traumatic Experience for Mummy

Mummy has been totally traumatised this week.

Adik's started kindergarten!! UWAaaaAAAaaaaAAaaaa ..... Here he is all happy and ready to go. I asked him on Tuesday (hoping he'd say no), "Adik, you want to go to school with Abang?"

"Nak."

I checked again the next morning morning, who knows? He may have changed his mind.

"Nak" was the same reply I got. Abang was so excited!

"Mummy," he said, "it's ok. PH1 class is right next to my K1 class. If Adik needs anything, Teacher Shoba can just come to my class and ask me."

BOTH the boys are growing up! AAAaaaaa... Mummy's not ready!

And then he had a brilliant suggestion: Maybe Adik can just go from 8am to 10am. So if he cries you can come and fetch him.

So sweet, our Abang. Such a big brother. Then he went to Adik and asked, "Adik, you want to go to school with Abang?"

"Nak." There's that "nak" again!

So I took them both on Wednesday morning, Adik all ready with his little Thomas and Friends backpack, a mountain of spare underwear and shorts (he's already off diapers at home) in case he's not familiar with the kindergarten toilet and wets himself, a water bottle and a great big smile.

"Yay, school!" he kept saying on the way there.

When we arrived I sat with the principal awhile to settle their fees and after a few minutes of milling about Adik got restless and made his way upstairs to his class by himself. Abang, who was also hanging out with us, went to the rescue.

"Mummy! Adik is going upstairs. I better go with him."

And off they both went.

First day report: Wet himself twice, cried for Mummy once but only after nearly 3 hours there.

Second day report: Wet himself once, didn't cry for Mummy, played lego, puzzles, ate biscuits during break and even asked his teacher for more.

Third day report: Played, ate, no crying, no wetting himself - he actually used their loo, hooray!

Besides the official report from his teacher (as above), we also get the unofficial report from Abang who claims he saw Adik arranging the chairs in his classroom.

"Were all the other children also arranging chairs in Adik's class?" I asked him.

"No, just Adik." That's Adik, alright! And Abang occasionally calls Adik "Hey, arranging chair boy".

I know, I know, I should be happy that he's adjusting well. A far cry - literally - from Abang's first week at school when he screamed bloody murder as soon as I left him there.

Actually secretly I'm beginning to enjoy the 4 hours to myself now that he's in school. But let's not get carried away, eh?