I Was So Mad Today

It was a fine day for me. However my mood changed once I reached the train station this evening. It was crowded as usual but the crowd got extremely large when the train didn’t arrive on time. Ever since my office shifted to the present location 1.5 years ago, my mode of transport to the office everyday is the KTM commuter. The train was delayed and when it finally came, all commuters rushed frantically to the door obstructing those who are getting out from the train. It was madness I tell you!! I don’t even need to walk by myself as I was being pushed into the train by those people behind and next to me who CAN’T WAIT to get into the train :( I was sandwiched (just like sardine) and could hardly breathe when I was inside there. I can smell all kinds of odour too…eeeyucks. The train was already filled to the brim and yet people are still squeezing their way in. Haizz, I really don’t understand…..take the next train lah please! I know everyone is in a hurry to go home but they just have to patiently wait for the next train to come, as the train was already chock-a-block FULL!! Some of my colleagues who take the Putra LRT never have such problem before.

Then I got mad again at home. This time was because of Sharlene.

When I was about to reach home I saw Sharlene and her nanny from far. She’s riding her tricycle outside the house. After I’d parked my car I accompanied her outside so that her nanny could go in and take her bath. I was happily playing with her but seconds later this girl of mine made me fuming mad by refusing to take in her tricycle after riding it. Usually she will keep it but I don’t know what’s wrong with her just now. She just left it next to the gate and gave me all kinds of excuses when I told her to put it back. She just refused to obey my instructions and began to squat down on the floor with both her hands on the ground as though she’s tired. I insisted that she takes in her tricycle or else she will not be allowed to get into the house. She did pull back her tricycle minutes later, but very reluctantly. Then we went into the house together and I told her to wash her hands and feet. She said NO again this time. So angry I was at that instant, I lugged her to the washroom and washed her up. As a result, she slipped in the washroom. She cried profusely and said that I’d pushed her down. She wanted my attention and over acted a bit there. I left her crying there although I was feeling really bad about it.

After I came down from my room ½ hour later she was all smiling again but she didn’t forget about the earlier incident at all. She told everyone including her daddy who came back much later that I’d pushed her down just now. I wonder since when she has become a ‘complain queen’....hehe. Anyway, I did apologized to her over the incident when both of us were in the room and at the same time told her to be responsible for her actions and the things she owns.

Hopefully, today she will not abandon her tricycle like the way she did yesterday. I will give her a warning first before she plays with it. If she repeats her irresponsible behaviour again, then she will not get to play with her tricycle for at least a few days.

A New Habit

Lately, Sharlene has developed a new habit of wearing socks to bed every night. This habit was formed when she had runny nose and cough sometime beginning of last month. Her cough got worse during the night. During that time I applied Vicks on her chest, back and soles of her feet and put on a pair of socks before she went to sleep. This method helps her to sleep better in the night. Although now she has fully recovered from her cough, she still insists on wearing her socks to bed every night. I suppose the socks are keeping her feet warm and comfortable at night, especially when she’s sleeping in an air-cond room. Perhaps, I should try it out tonight...and who knows, I might like it too, haha.

Do You Check Your Kids’ School Bag?

Ever since Sharlene started pre-school early this year, checking her school bag every night has become my daily routine. At this moment, it is my responsibility to ensure that her books are properly and neatly placed inside the bag, her homework for the day is completed, her stationeries are intact, her color pencils are well sharpened, and most importantly, no foreign objects are put inside her bag.

At one time, Sharlene has a habit of putting her favorite items inside her school bag. I guess she's reluctant to part with her toys when she goes to school. And therefore she wants to bring them along too. These are the few items that she's fond of putting in – small little soft toys and other knick-knacks, coins, stickers, etc. However, she can never get to bring all those stuff to school, as I will remove it from her bag without her knowledge (soon after she has gone to bed). Fortunately these days her tendency of bringing her favorite things has ceased. This has definitely saves me the trouble of searching her bag again.

Another habit that I found out is that she brings home pencils and erasers that doesn’t belong to her. As I was checking her pencil case the other day, I discovered 2 pencils which were not familiar to me. Hence, it prompted me to ask her -

Me: Sharlene, where is your pencil? Can you tell me whose pencils are these?
Sharlene: My friend.
Me: Why did you take your friend's pencils? You cannot simply take and bring home your friend's pencils.
Sharlene: All my friends take my things and I have no more things.

That was the reason she gave for bringing home her friend's pencils. The attitude of - you take my things and I take yours... Obviously, her own pencil had ended up in her friend's pencil case. Anyhow, I expressly told her to return the pencils to her friend. The next day I was glad that she brought back only her own pencil. She also told me that she'd returned the pencils to her friend.

Hopefully, Sharlene will learn to treasure her belongings in future. By the way, have you encountered this problem before with your school going children?

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.

My Super Lazy Girl

Hubby called me this morning and he mentioned about Sharlene over the phone. It was only a short conversation about her laziness again.

Sharlene is really lazy in the morning of a school day. She refuses to wake up, refuses to let Aunty YK brush her teeth, wash her bum, change her clothes. She will give all sorts of excuses to stay on the bed such as "I’m sleepy", "I’m tired", "I don’t want to go to school", or "Today no school". Aunty YK and hubby have to take turns to coax her every morning. And my lazy girl will only get up after 1/2 hrs of resting and rolling on her bed. Sometimes, she even creates another episode of drama in the bathroom...:( Sigh! What a pain!!

Having to deal with all these, I'm glad that hubby still manages to fetch Sharlene to the kindy on time, as the place is just a few houses away from our house.

I really hope this is only a passing phase and that her sluggish attitude will cease soon. In the meantime, we are trying our best as parents to be more patient with her.

I Want To Win, I Don't Want To Lose!

Sharlene has a very strong character and she cannot accept to be a loser most of the time when she plays with her 'piau-cheh' (cousin sister). She wants to be the winner and refuses to be the loser and she will rant and rave if piau-cheh is the winner and she's the loser. That's how difficult and unreasonable she can be!

Last week after I came home from work one evening, the 2 gals requested me to bring them out for a walk. I agreed to bring them out as they were cooped up in the house for the whole day and looked really eager to get out from there. As it was almost 7pm, I told them to just play nearby the house for a short while. Both of them happily went outside to play with me standing close by to watch over them. After 10 -15 minutes of playing, I told them to get in as the sky was getting dark. Shortly after that, they walked in slowly and out of a sudden my niece said to Sharlene, "Let see who can ran in faster" and she rushed back to the house first leaving Sharlene and myself behind. When both of us stepped into the house, my niece said "Yay, yay, I win and you lose". As I expected, Sharlene was frustrated and angry because she wasn't the winner who got into the house first. She cried and wailed non stop and told her piau-cheh "I win, you lose". This episode went on for about 15 minutes. She finally stopped crying and screaming after I told her "Sharlene cannot be the winner all the time. Sometimes, you will lose and it's alright to lose as you can always win again the next time". I was upset and angry to see my girl behaving so unruly. Actually at that moment, I wasn't sure if she understands what I was trying to tell her. But she did stopped crying and even said to me "piao-cheh win and Sharlene lose". She seemed to forget about the entire incident and continued playing with her piao-cheh again.

I Don't Want To Wear Pants!

Of late, Sharlene doesn't want to wear pants during bedtime at night. So weird...right! Sometimes, I just can't comprehend her weird habits especially her refusal of putting on her pants. This habit started when she doesn't want to wear diapers. I have tried to let her sleep without diapers but she wasn't ready for it yet. So, I will put on the diapers for her after she is fast asleep. It sounds so simple but this is really not an easy job for me. She really hates diapers. Although she's sound asleep, she will resist and struggle whenever I try to put on her diapers. And then I have to wait and try again later even though I'm already so sleepy and exhausted after a long day. At times, I get very angry, frustrated and tired after a few unsuccessful attempts on the same night. Since she doesn't want her diapers, I put on the pants for her but she doesn't even want her pants now. As I do not want to disturb her resting and make her cry in the middle of the night, I gave in to her by covering her half-naked body with a blanket. And for the past few days she has been sleeping without her pants until the next morning. I am truly upset and worry about her unusual habit. Nevertheless I will keep trying and be more patient towards her and hope she will understand why she needs to wear pants to bed.

A Caring Attitude

Yesterday morning before going off to work, I took out a knife to cut my fruits and at the same time I was also busy talking to my sil in the kitchen. As I was washing the knife and talking, I accidentally cut my left thumb and felt a sharp pain instantly. This wasn't the first time I cut my fingers and since this time was just a slight cut, I continued with my chores and later went off to work.

I was having fun with Sharlene and hubby at the living room after we had our dinner last night. I was so tired after a long day in the office but she doesn't seems to get enough of it. So, in order to distract her I shown her my cut thumb and said:-

Me : "Sharlene, look at mummy's thumb. Mummy got cut here and its very painful." (just pretending.....hehe!)
Sharlene : "oh, mummy! you must put plaster here" (her finger pointing at my thumb)
Me : "Its okay dear, no need plaster"
Sharlene : "No, no... must put plaster" (her face looked so worried and upset)
Then hubby interrupted our conversation and brought Sharlene to the kitchen to get a plaster for me. *slap forehead*

Shortly, Sharlene came to me with a plaster...
Sharlene : "Come mummy, I put plaster for you"

Me : "O.k" and I shown her my thumb.

Hubby helped Sharlene to take out the adhesive on the plaster and she placed the plaster neatly on my wounded thumb. I felt so touched by the modest thoughtfulness of my little girl.

I noticed on several occasions Sharlene has shown her caring and loving attitudes towards the people around her. For instance, she will comfort her cousin sister when she is crying, run to get her a tissue and wipe her tears, hug and kiss her.

Bad Habit

Lately Sharlene has this habit of picking her nose and she will do it very often in a day despite me telling her not to do it. Whenever she picks her nose, I will tell her to stop doing it or else she will have a big ugly nose. She will not listen and say, "got 'pei-si' inside my nose" and continue her business again. Sometimes, she will dig until her nose bleeds and then complain pain. That's how stubborn she is and will not listen to my advice most of the time. I really can't think of any method to stop her from repeating it other than telling her over and over again.

Last Sunday, Sharlene was sitting next to her cousin sister, she was looking at her playing the PS2. She was sitting there quietly and out of a sudden I saw her doing her 'digging nose' business again. What I cannot imagine is that she put her nose poop on her cousin sister's hair. OMG....it was so disgusting!! She continued her disgusting habit despite my niece screaming and me threatening her. Instead she gave me a cheeky smile. I was really furious at that time. I wonder why she always like to behave badly and act mischievously. I hope this bad habit of Sharlene will cease soon.