Oh my oh my, a very tedious month indeed...
A cute picture of them in their younger days..
Jun was chosen as the star student of his class for term 2! We were very proud of him for being a stellar role model in school though he explicitly said that he did not enjoy school as it was too long. He had been adapting slowing... it was still tedious having to go through his homework and spelling with him...slowly but surely, we knew Jun would rise up to the occasion...
Jun liked to sit in the pram with Mei, but then he would get off when we had to enter the lift as he said he knew it would be hard to go over the gap with both of them in the pram.
We went to Er Yi's house to celebrate the long Hari Raya Haji weekend. Bought the large tub of Yole and it was completely wiped out by 8 children. I have got to buy two tubs in future. Tong was sulking because he could not wait to tuck in but Er Yi wanted a photo.
Then he had to wait for Papa to distribute the yoghurt.
First time using the SQ tiles papa redeemed using his airmiles. Woah, some $388 if one paid in cash...they were really pretty and the designs had aeronautical themes...really lovely. so thankful that Uncle Cavan came into our lives. He was teasing Xiaoyi alongside papa and San Yi Zhang. Papa and San Yi Zhang had been teasing Xiaoyi since she was a wee child and they are still doing it now...I guess that is how they show affection towards her..haha
It was a night of many firsts. Papa threw away this tile and the other three parties won! WOAH. Yi Pao San Xiang. He had to pay all of them. Luckily, one had only one tai. The other had two and the other had three, so it was not too costly. Interestingly, the one, two, three Tais were in corresponding anticlockwise direction. Then in another round, all four of them threw the Bei tile and they could reshuffle all the tiles!
My lovely Jie and Mei. Er Yi used to wear this with Yan Jie but Yanjie could no longer wear it. We got Yanjie's top first and Ma kept it aside. Later on, Er Yi passed hers to Xun but Xun thought it was quite childish and did not like it. But when I dug out the top for Mei, Xun decided to wear it too so she could match Mei!
Was reading the story "Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus" to Mei...and after hearing the pigeon beg twice to be allowed to drive the bus, she said resignedly, "Fine." Once, I asked her to do something and she said 'fine' in that indignant and resigned tone too. That sassy little lass who always "fine" me!
Jie had been coming into her own too...She used to give very bland oral answers, in fact she did that just last year! But I went through the English and Chinese orals with her in preparation for the prelims and she was able to come up with very cogent and thoughtful replies on the spot, backed by relevant personal examples...wow...jie was developing her own personality very nicely...ya she still worked really hard...she was down with COVID...alas...had a sore throat on Wed night, then I tested her on Thurs morning, OK, went to school, came back feeling sicker...ate medicine, seemed OK. Tested her on Fri morning and I thought she was OK as the T line was not red and the C line came up...Left and came back upon hearing Tong shout that "Jie has COVID!" We survived one round when Papa got it...now...I would have let all of you mingle if not for the fact that Mei was unvaccinated...oh well...you showered, ate, slept together...we would let God preserve us in His BIG hands..
Wai Po refused to come over to take care of you, so Mama took leave...phew, luckily it was approved.
She really loved Yanjie Jie Jie and she often asked to leave voice messages for her.
Once she asked my why I was using her blue spoon. She was very particular about her cutlery. She only used the Paw Patrol spoon with the yellow paw and the blue spork which had a spoon on one end and a fork on the other. I said, "This is my house and everything belongs to me." Sweetly, she said, "No, everything belongs to you and me."
Jesse loved to play with Mei and Jun. Here they were at the seed playground at Hillion Mall. It was an advance birthday celebration for Jesse.
We went to City Square Mall with Jesse and her sisters.
Mei played a game at the claw machine and got a prize at her very first attempt!
We went to the dentist and she found a little bump. We prayed that God would keep her healthy and not let this bump worsen or cause her pain. If we could keep the teeth till the adult ones come out, that would be good. Sigh. Perhaps the infection would worsen. Perhaps it would stain or cause the adult tooth to look ugly...we did not know...we put this in God's big hands...
The silly girl loved to use my phone to take selfies...She was a homebody. She did not enjoy staying overnight at Ah Ma's house and always wished that she could go home to her own bed. She said she loved her house and bed. She always said that she missed me when I was at work. She used to say that she missed me at work. I told her that sounded like she was the one who went to work and corrected her. Ever since, she never used the wrong sentence. Her grammar was really quite amazing for her age! When I revealed that I would stop working on Wednesdays next year, she exclaimed, "YESS! Finally!"
The little professor! We loved matching dresses! She also loved to match the colour of her shoes with mine but she had mostly bright colours like pink and purple but I had more dark colours like black and blue, so she said she had to buy new shoes. LOL. This little lass liked to go out to shop and buy things.
The other time, she asked Gor Gor to give her Mimi the dragonfruit juice. She usually teased Gor Gor. Gor loved to hug and cuddle with her but she would scream and push him away, crushing his tender heart. haha. That day, she said cutely that he should do what she said because she loved him and he protected her from weak Gege. Ha. She really had a very glib tongue. She knew how to worm into people's heart and was a very likable and endearing girl. Superbly high EQ.
Like she would often stay up with me and she would raid the cupboard for snacks. Sometimes I would glower and glare at her when she kept interrupting me to help her tie open the wrapper or she would take multiple snacks...then she would bring an item that I liked, like the cuttlefish, and say, "Mama, you like this. You can eat this. It's very spicy but you like it." Very intelligent and cunning.
Oh and she was now able to count. At barely 3.5 years old, she had grasped the concept of counting, truly. We had fun coming up with stories to help her recognise the numbers. 6 was Gor Gor as he had a big tummy. 9 was Gege as he had a big head. 5 was Sarahbelle as 5 looks like S. She loved to put up the second, third and fourth fingers to show 3. So we turned it one way and it looked like 3. Turned the other way and it was an E!
Now that she could count, I could not bluff her.
Mei: I want 4 chocolates.
Gave her 3.
Mei: Huh, you only gave me 3!
Mama: (shouting to the other siblings) Oh no, she can count! I can't bluff her anymore.
The grubby one who loved chocolate and sotong balls...
Ma: Everyone gets 2 sotong balls. I give you 2.
Mei: I want 3!
Ma: Ok
Mei: You have 1!
(Mama: What, she can do subtraction too?)
Papa and I thought if we were to have another GEPPER at home, it would probably be Mei for she seemed even brighter than Jie. She could do the busy books meant for 5-year-old kids for hours...
Tried to have a new profile pic for the Lulu Sisters and Partners chat.
Mama went for a baking class and had lots of fun! Recently, I have been reading up a lot of books on health, trauma, psychology and I decided that I would ask every one whom I meet for dinner to tell me one piece of knowledge that he/she thinks would be interesting or useful for me to know...I want to tap on other people's wisdom...and perhaps I should record all those wise words in a book
It was good to learn a new skill. I felt that I have undergone quite a big transformation after I hit 40. There were things that I no longer tolerated and I had no qualms voicing my objections. I also have learnt to be more empathetic...for beneath every obnoxious person lies a wounded fearful person...it is not easy to be compassionate...it does not mean I put up with being the target of their vindictiveness too. It means I could understand why they lash out, that it is a result of their being unable to resolve past issues or trauma and their anger has nothing to do with me. I could let go of the desire to seek revenge and move on. I could enjoy my life purposefully and peacefully.
Met an actress who used to be quite popular when she was young. I stood next to her for 4 hours and only realised who she was at the end of the class. She still looked so gorgeous for someone who was almost 60! Could you imagine that? SIXTY? With blond hair and wearing gucci sneakers?
The murderous weapon had such a lovely name...gosh...used it to slice up the biscotti...such lovely bakes...
Tong loved the Transformer top Er Yi got him from Bangkok. He was also coming into his own nicely...That night, mama had gone out of the room to do her work...Tong and Xun were not yet asleep. Tong asked Jie if she wanted to listen to Pastor Prince's sermon. Upon hearing Jie's quavering voice, he knew Jie was crying as she was not selected to go to the DSA interview. He told her, "It's OK la, "... pause..."We still love you." Apparently, Jie cried buckets after hearing that and Tong went to sleep blissfully.
On the night before Jie tested positive for COVID, she was very tired and could not find her bear and did not want to go to the living room to look for it. Usually, Tong would delegate his duty when Mama asked him to go out of the room to do some chores, e.g. fill up the water bottle, bring the uniform out, help Mei find her mimi... But that night, Tong actually went out to look for Jie's Mimi, could not find it, came back and found it under the queen bed.
Once, he pulled the mat on which we put the charging station out so that it would be nearer to me and I could surf while charging my phone.
As Auntie A said, Tong's heart is in the right place. Our darling Tong's heart is in the right place.
Papa and I saw this shark and we thought of Tong. Well, I was of the mind that he should throw the old one away. Tong was wondering about that too as he asked if he had to throw Balarch away if he got the new one. but Papa said Tong hardly asked to buy soft toys and he knew Tong really loved his old shark so he allowed him to keep both. Heh, so of course Tong agreed. Now he had TWO GIGANTIC SHARKS on his bed, the new one was even BIGGER than the old one.
So...we prayed that God would preserve us and keep us safe..and that we are exactly where we are meant to be.. with such a secure hope and anchor, how could we not go on with our lives bravely and boldly? Thank you, Lord. IN Jesus' name, Amen.
