Sharlene Can't Bear To See Her Nanny Go

Aunty YK is on leave this weekend. It has been more than a month since she last went home. Whenever she requests to be on leave, hubby will fetch her to her sister's house on Friday night and fetch her home again on Sunday night. Since the coming Monday is a public holiday, we will only fetch her back on Monday night.

After we had our dinner, I told Sharlene that Aunty YK is going home later. As I expected, she doesn't want her Aunty to go home. My poor girl's happy face suddenly became gloomy upon hearing what I've said to her. After much explanation to her, I brought her upstairs to the room while hubby helped Aunty YK to transfer her stuff to the car. She said goodbye to Aunty before she followed me to the room and half way climbing the stairs, she went down again to say goodbye and give a big hug to Aunty YK. Minutes later, she finally went into the room but before I could get her to brush her teeth, she opened the room door and went downstairs again. Guess what? she wants to see Aunty again. I quickly came out from the room and ran downstairs to stop them from going. Hubby and Aunty YK were already near the house gate. Sharlene came out and gave her Aunty hug hug again, said goodbye again and kissed her this time. Aiyoh! Sharlene is really attach to her nanny and sayang her so much. As she was almost crying, I quickly signaled them to leave the house fast.

Back to the room, she was very cooperative and did everything without protest. She dozed off very quickly after gulping down her bottle of milk. Guess she must be extremely tired today. I am going to rest early too, so I can have all the energy required to handle my hyperactive toddler tomorrow.

Have a nice weekend everyone!

Her Recent Quotes

“I don’t want to friend you”

Do you find this phrase familiar? This is one of the most common words children like to say. Recently, I noticed Sharlene is very fond of saying this phrase when she’s unhappy with us. She will utter these few words, fold her arms together and show us her angry face when we don’t allow her to do certain things or when she gets scolding from us. She must have learnt this from pre-school as none of us at home speak to her like this. On one occasion after she said this phrase to me, I asked her “Why you don’t want to friend mummy?” she replied furiously, “I’m angry, I don’t want to friend naughty mummy, I want to friend xxxxxxxxxxxxx” (she named a few of her school friends). Oh my, she prefers her friends than mummy now. But kids being kids, they don’t mean to hurt us with their words and they will soon forget what they’ve just said.

Independence - Good Or Bad??

It is a positive sign when your child can feed himself, dress himself, use the potty or toilet, brush his teeth etc. Whilst I’m glad and happy that my soon to be 4-year old girl is independent (likes to do things on her own) I’m also constantly reminding her that there are certain tasks she’s not suppose to do on her own yet.

Despite explaining and telling her nicely that she cannot do it, she refuses to listen and insists that we allow her to do it. At times when I wanted her to do things herself e.g. eat on her own instead of being fed by her nanny, she ignores my instructions. Yes, you are right...she's a very stubborn girl. I often lose my temper and get angry because of her stubborn attitude.

At her age, Sharlene is inquisitive and eager to try out new things. She feels proud of her abilities to perform especially with little or no help from us. As her mother I'm totally aware of her emerging independence and will accommodate her requests as long as the same is within her capability.

I love to hear her say "mummy, I want to do this myself" but definitely not when she wants to make her own bottle of milk, mix her own cup of hot Milo or oats, walk on her own in a busy street without holding our hands and so on. Hopefully, she will understand very soon why mummy doesn't accede to her requests which could be dangerous or unsafe without mummy's supervision.

Dinner At Marco Polo Restaurant

Last Saturday, we had dinner with the newly wed couple, Mollie (my brother-in-law’s sister) and Michael (her British husband) at one of the oldest Chinese restaurants in K.L, Marco Polo Restaurant. At first we had wanted to either go to a chinese restaurant near our place or TGIF at 1Utama. Since we wanted to show Michael the night scene of KL city, we decided to go Marco Polo instead.

Arrived there slightly before 8pm as it was rainy and we waited for hubby to be back from office. He works half day on Saturdays but so happened he had a meeting which ended quite late on that day.

As there were 9 adults and 3 kids, we went in 2 cars. Sharlene had a good ½ hr sleep during the journey to the restaurant. The food was served almost immediately as my sil had cleverly called the restaurant captain and placed an order with him while she’s in the car. She is a frequent patron of the restaurant.

Despite having forty winks in the car, Sharlene was not in a mood at all and she behaved very cranky upon reaching the restaurant. She refused to sit on the highchair given to her by the waitress and demanded us to change her chair. Then, she took off her shoes and made a fuss of everything that comes her way. Luckily I brought along a packet of Japanese rice crackers and that managed to stop her from complaining. Phew!!


A moment before the food was served. The 3 kids - Sharlene and her 2 cousins.


The very familiar and well-known chinese cuisine - Peking Duck. The waiter used a sharp knife to slice the crispy duck skin. Then, he rolled the skin with chinese pancakes and served it with green onions and hoisin sauce. Sharlene shown no interest to the pancakes but loved the crispy duck skin very much.


OOoooooo...look at the yummy big prawn here. Each one of us was served with 1 big prawn. My girl had a great time savoring her gigantic prawn...the pics below will show how my food monster relishes her seafood.








The whole process of licking, sucking and munching finally came to an end. Looking at the ways she handles the prawn, I was glad that she didn't stain her dress. But I really had a tough time cleaning and washing her dirty hands and mouth....Eeeewww!!

My Bread Lover

Sharlene loves to eat bread and she eats it everyday. To her, plain ones are the best. Look at how happy she was with just a plain slice of white bread. Her style of eating is - finish off the crust before gobble up the soft white bread.



As we do not have white bread most of the days, Sharlene will eat wholemeal bread instead. For me, eating wholemeal bread is a better and healthier choice than white bread. If she prefers to add some flavor, it would only be butter and peanut butter. She will take the butter dish from the fridge, the butter knife from the drawer and start spreading the butter on the bread herself. Then, she will lick the butter or peanut butter first before eating up the bread by folding it into half.

Whilst I like to eat my bread with cheese and sometimes fried eggs with onion, Sharlene prefers to take them separately. She will remove whatever is inside the bread and have them one by one. So unusual, right! But this habit of hers is fine with me as long as she finishes everything that are given to her on the plate.


She's showing to me her satisfying look here.

Food Again

My brother-in-law's youngest sister, Mollie had her wedding reception last Sunday. The night before, she held a small party for her relatives and friends. My sil suggested to have the party at our place. Here are some of the food we served on last Saturday night.

Guess how much we pay for this tray of singapore meehoon? ...RM80/=...I was astonished when I heard that. The price was exorbitant! For the price that we paid I expect to see big prawns or maybe sotong but there wasn't any. I could only see some small miserable looking prawns, beansprouts and garnishing. More like a tray of vegetarian meehoon. And the taste of it was too sweet for my liking. Anyhow, the guests loved it and almost walloped everything.


Next, we have 200 sticks of satay with sliced cucumbers and onions at the side. Oopps! failed to take pic of the satay gravy.


This's the sambal sotong (brown squid) to complement the main dish - 'nasi lemak'. There were rendang chicken and fried chicken as well.


Fruit rojak. Aunty YK's homemade rojak sauce was yummy. Our guests have the chance of mixing their own rojak - just throw in the fruits, add the sauce, mix everything together and top with chopped peanuts. Simply delicious!


Here we have some mini egg tarts, tuna tarts, coconut tarts, and mouth-watering nyonya kueh for dessert.

I Love To Be Back Home

The thoughts of going back my hometown in JB really make me a happy person. This feeling of mine has never changed since the day I came to KL 8 yrs ago. I enjoy the warmth feeling of being at home, the wholesome homecooked food prepared by my aunty, the conversation with my dad, mum and sis, catching up with relatives and friends, and much much more.

Ever since Sharlene started schooling this year, I find it rather difficult to plan our trip to JB. I’m a bit reluctant to let her skip classes all the time. So I reckon the best time to go is during the school holidays. Well, we are not going back this time even though I had planned to do so a few months back. This school break is just too short to plan for anything. Hence, I thought the next available time would be the National Day holiday which falls on a Sunday....and we get an extra holiday the following day! Yippee! That’s the best time to go JB. But sadly, I’ve to postpone my trip again when hubby told me that his aunty and her 2 daughters from HK would be coming during that time..:( What a coincidence! We can't be going off when people are coming right..Sigh! just a tad disappointed.

Hopefully, I’d be able to visit my parents in October during the Hari Raya week. Sharlene has already received a notice that her kindy will be closed from 29 Sept till 3 Oct in conjunction with Hari Raya holidays. I’m keeping my fingers cross here so that nothing will crops up again in October.

Shocking News

My colleague and I walked into the office after we had our breakfast this morning. My boss was already in his room. A few minutes later he came out from his room and told both of us that another colleague had called this morning to say her handbag was snatched this morning. The snatch thief ran off with her handbag together with her identity card, ATM card, mobile phone, cash and other items in her bag. She is on emergency leave today to sort out some matters following the dreadful incident. We were upset that such a thing could happen to her.

I managed to find out more about her bad experience when she called just now. It was a quick conversation and according to her the robber who came in a motorbike robbed her right in front of her house this morning when she was leaving for office. The robber whom she said looked like a Malay slapped her face and snatched her handbag. Her brother dashed out immediately and chased after him but was unsuccessful. Thank god she wasn’t hurt during that time.

Snatch thieves going around in broad daylight stealing and running off with women’s handbags are really rampant nowadays. Whilst we try our best to be careful and alert to our surroundings these snatch thieves just caught us unaware sometimes. The only thing I could say is that the world we live in today is no longer safe for our children and us.

Skin Care Products For Sensitive And Problem Skin

Sebamed Baby Liquid Cleanser - a no tears formula with pH value of 5.5

Ellgy Hydro-Replenishing Hand & Body Lotion

Cetaphil Moisturizing Lotion - fragrance free moisturizer for chronic dry and sensitive skin.

These are the skin care products currently use by Sharlene. She has mild eczema since she was an infant. When she was just about 1 month old she had an eczema outbreak and both her cheeks were full of rough and red rashes. At that time, I was so upset and frustrated looking at her flare-up face. Nevertheless, her skin condition has improved tremendously over the years. Thanks to the various skin care products that are suitable for the prevention and treatment of sensitive, dry, problem and eczema skins.

Sharlene sweats a lot especially during hot weather and usually that’s the time she gets outbreaks on her neck, shoulder, body and hands. She will then scratch those rashes, sometimes until it bleeds. I've to wipe off her sweats, change her clothes whenever she's soak with sweats. Or else, she will start to have patches of red rashes all over her body again. On top of that I've to keep her skin moisturise too by applying moisturizing lotion on her entire body after her shower twice a day.

I really hope Sharlene's skin condition will get better as she grows older and she need not use those expensive skin care products continuously. However at this moment, I find that all these products are really good and helpful in keeping her eczema at bay.

Prayers For My Late Mother-In-Law

Last Sunday, we had Chinese prayers for my mother-in-law who passed away last year. It was just a simple prayer at home with the attendance of some close relatives. The prayers were held in conjunction with my late MIL’s 1st year death anniversary. I was told that for 1st year anniversary, the prayers have to be on the deceased’s birthday and not the day he/she departed. In fact, I never knew about this practice until I was informed on it.

For the said prayers, we prepared lots of food (my late MIL’s favourites) to offer on the prayers table. That’s how the prayer table looks like with all the food items placed to the brim:


Homecooked food consists of fried fish (Tilapia), stir fried pork with sliced ginger and spring onions, steamed chicken, fried 'wanton', creamy butter prawns, stir fried vegetables.

We bought the following items: assorted fruits, portugese egg tarts, pau, colourful nyonya kuih, durian, 'loh mai kai' (steamed glutinous rice) and a birthday cake. Hubby's aunty brought over 1 1/2 roasted duck and 'siew yok' (roasted pork).


This was the creamy butter prawns I cooked on that day. For this dish you will need -big prawns, butter or margarine, 1 can of evaporated milk, lots of curry leaves and chilli padi and of course, some salt and sugar for seasoning. Very simple and delicious! Using the same ingredients and method, this creamy butter sauce goes very well with crabs too.

Homework On A Daily Basis

Lately, I noticed Sharlene has been bringing back homework everyday. Her homework consists of colouring and letter writing. Some days she brought home 2 books, 1 colouring book and another exercise book for letter writing. What about your kids? Do they have homework EVERYDAY? At times my girl is so lazy and refuses to complete her homework. Her nanny has tough time asking her to do it sometimes.

I've a bedtime routine with Sharlene every night. Before she drinks her milk, I will check her school bag to see what she had learn in the morning, look at her completed homework and read to her. As I was checking through her bag I found a colouring book which she put into another smaller compartment. I opened the book and found a page with a 'Homework' chop on it. I was shocked to see a clean flower picture...meaning she didn't do her homework. Her nanny didn't notice the book when she checked it during the day. It was almost 9.00p.m. and I thought she must be too tired to do it.

When I told her she has another page of colouring to do, I was surprised she took her colour pencils right away and finished off the colouring in less than 10 mins.


Sharlene did her colouring on a stool in my bedroom with Aunty YK holding the book for her. Look, she's so occupied with her colouring here.


Almost done here. Quite a nice piece, right. If only she can show this kind of enthusiasm everyday. I'll be so happy. On another note, maybe I shouldn't expect too much from a 4 yr old kid.

Missed Out On My Weekly Exercise Routine

I didn’t get to exercise the last weekend. Instead of going for my morning jog last Saturday, I’ve to get Sharlene ready for her replacement class, send her to the school and go to the wet market. I missed out again on Sunday because I’ve to be in the kitchen early in the morning.

Having to leave the house early in the morning and reach home close to 7 p.m., I simply can’t squeeze in any time to exercise on a working day. I know it’s important to exercise everyday but I’m just too lazy to do it early in the morning before I go to work or to jog in the evening. Once I step into the house, Sharlene will stick to me like glue. Moreover, that is the only time I could be with her, so I rather spend those precious moments with her on a weekday.

I still remember 6-7 years ago I used to attend yoga and aerobics classes 3 times a week. The classes were conducted a few blocks away from my workplace. So those days my colleague and I just walked over after office hours. I continued with my yoga classes even though I was pregnant with Sharlene and I stopped somewhere around the end of 2nd trimester. Two years after I delivered Sharlene I started yoga again. Unfortunately, the instructor had stopped teaching due to her work commitments a few months ago.

I really miss those workout days. I know I can’t exercise like I used to be but I’m glad that at least I can jog twice a week now. Hopefully, I can resume my jogging sessions with hubby and SIL very soon.

Find out what I’ve cooked last Sunday in my forthcoming post.

Traces Of Lead Found In Malaysian Candy

Got this from Malaysian Insider

California officials warn against Malaysian candy
SACRAMENTO, Aug 6 — California health officials have issued a warning about a brand of candy from Malaysia, saying it contains lead levels the state considers unsafe. The Department of Public Health says a recent analysis found that Ego Hao Jin Bang candy contained as much as 0.73 parts per million of lead. The state considers candy with lead levels of more than 0.10 parts per million to be contaminated. Lead can be particularly harmful for young children and developing fetuses, resulting in learning disabilities and behavioural disorders. — AP

Following the above news reports in California, this particular brand of candy has also been removed from store shelves in Singapore.

I’ve not seen this Ego Hao Jin Bang candy before but I remember seeing some products under this particular 'Ego' brand in some of the hypermarkets here. I'm not sure if anyone of you has seen this before. Anyway, when leads get into our body it is a poison and harms people. Even small amounts of it can be harmful. Young children also absorb lead more easily than adults. And I just wonder why there are traces of lead found in this nice-looking candy??

So Obsessed

I have never seen hubby so obsessed in buying things before, particularly clothes. He hardly ever shops on his own. Those days (before our precious daughter came into our life), we used to shop together from the time the shopping complex opens till the time it closes. That’s how crazy we were especially during mega sales time. Now we hardly have the time to shop for clothes together. Whenever we go shopping we will either look for Sharlene’s stuff or mummy’s shoes and dresses. Poor hubby only tags along without any complaint.

Now back to hubby’s obsession…it all started when we were at Mid Valley Megamall last Saturday night. He saw a renoma long sleeve shirt at Metrojaya but for some reasons, he didn’t buy the shirt. He intends to go back there on Sunday morning. But again, it was too late to go to Mid Valley after our shopping for groceries at Tesco. While shopping in Tesco with Sharlene and her nanny, hubby went over to Metrojaya @ The Curve, trying to hunt for the same shirt. Unfortunately he couldn’t find it there. He must be soooooo disappointed again.

Nevertheless, he finally bought the shirts he’s crazy over on Monday night, after failing to get it for 2 days. Last night, he went to The Curve again and came back with 3 more Renoma long sleeve shirts. I was like...what! Shirts again!! I can’t imagine that he got himself a total of 5 new shirts at 2 different shopping complexes in 2 consecutive nights. With his new purchase, he packed away 2 bags of old shirts last night. At last, he got rid of his old shirts that he has been wearing for the past few years.

Sharlene Is Getting Better

Today Sharlene is finally getting better after days of coughing. It really breaks my heart to hear her coughing non-stop especially during the night. She has stopped taking the chinese meds and I'm giving her Rhinathiol which hubby bought from pharmacy last Friday. It is a cough syrup for symptomatic treatment of troublesome, non-productive cough, particularly occurring at night. This syrup comes with a measuring spoon too. She wasn't aware that I'm giving her meds as I mix 5ml of the syrup into her milo. She happily drank finish the whole cup of the milo without realising it has been tampered. Thanks to my friend who gave me this idea. So, for the last 2 days I'm at home I've been mixing her meds with milo 3 times a day. As I'm back to work today, her nanny gave meds to her by mixing it with her milk and she also finished the whole bottle as usual.

Last night she slept throughout the night without coughing. And today her cough doesn't sounds as bad as the last few days. I'm so glad that she's coughing lesser now and hopefully she can stop taking the meds soon.

I'm So Used To It

Besides drinking a glass of warm water (first thing in the morning before I step into the bathroom), I will make myself a mug of psyllium husks before I go to work every morning. Some how I managed to accept this tasteless and slimy drink and have become so used to it now. Due to time constraint in the morning, I just add 1 tbsp of psyllium husks into a full glass of plain water and gulp it down before I rush off to work. Although it is supposed to be taken 3 times a day (as printed on the packet) I think for me, it is sufficient to just have it once in the morning or sometimes evening.

I have been diligently drinking psyllium husk for almost a month now and I must say that it really does helps to improve my bowel movements. As I don’t take in enough fiber everyday, psyllium husk definitely gives me more roughage in my daily diet. I’ve read some articles in the websites, which state that people with high cholesterol problem would benefit from taking psyllium husk as it can help to reduce cholesterol level.

Recently, hubby also starts to take a glass of psyllium husk daily. Hopefully his cholesterol level could be reduced in no time. Even Sharlene’s nanny is drinking this fiber beverage now.

She Is Down With Cough

Sharlene had dry cough a few nights ago. It was infrequent and I thought it could be due to her sleeping in an air-cond room. Hence I only gave her some water to moist her dry throat whenever I hear her coughing at night. Her nanny said she doesn’t cough during the day. I noticed that too when I was at home with her last weekend.

She has been taking medicines since Tuesday. As she hates to take medicines prescribed by her paed and instead of forcing her to take those meds, we gave her Chinese medicines (in powder form) purchased from Chinese medical shop. My niece takes this powdered meds each time she has cough and it’s very effective for her. Hopefully, it works for Sharlene too. She is willing and able to accept the bitter and pungent taste of the Chinese meds. I just wonder why?????

She attended pre-school as usual. Yesterday after came back from kindy, she told her nanny that she vomited in the classroom. She even said she vomited all over the place, on the table, on the chair and on the floor. Oh my! I bet the classroom smells horrible and I feel so sorry for the teacher who cleaned up the dirty mess.

Last night, her cough got worse. She coughed uncontrollably for almost 1 hr and could hardly sleep. I gave her some water and rubbed her chest, back, and nostril with vicks vaporub. After coughing and tossing on her bed, she finally slept around 10.30pm. When she woke up to pee around 3a.m., she coughed non-stop again. I applied another round of vicks vaporub on her, stroked her chest and patted her back repeatedly until she fell asleep again.

Looks like her cough is getting from bad to worse. I’m calling home now to find out her latest condition. I hope and pray that her condition improves otherwise we’d have to bring her to the paediatrician later.