Here is the girl singing in one of her better mood (allowing me to capture her on Video shows she’s in better mood or she won’t cooperate with the camera).

Can you also spot Zaria entertaining herself at the background?

Weekend is coming, and she’s started the I-don’t-want-to-go-to-school conversation again.
This time she’s saying, “But I don’t want to go.”
“But It’s not fun.”
“But I cannot come out.”
She even said, “After say ‘You cannot go out!'” (stressing “You Cannot Go Out” in angry tone).
When I asked her who said that? Did the teacher say that?
She replied, “Kakak said” (as in our maid). *slap head*
Finding excuses again..
Haih….

On Friday, we told Zara we’ll get her a school bag for her to bring to school on Sunday.
Zara : “I’m going school tomorrow?”
Me : “No, on Sunday. Tomorrow is Saturday.”
Zara : “I go school tomorrow tomorrow?”
Me : “Yeah, it’s day after tomorrow.”
Zara : “I don’t want to go to school.”
Daddy : “Why? You can learn new things and be clever.”
Zara : “I don’t want to be clever.”
Daddy : “Why don’t you want to be clever?”
Zara : “Because I want to be a clown.” o.O”
Me : “Never mind, you just go and play and have fun then.”
End of conversation 1.

Zara : “I want to go see monkeys. I don’t want to go to school.”
Me : “We can go to school then we go and see the monkeys.”
Zara : “I want to see the monkeys first!”
Me : “The monkeys are going to school in the morning, because they need to learn how to climb trees, how to shell a peanut. So they won’t be around in the mornings. We can go and see them after your class.”
Zara : *thoughtful for a moment* “The monkeys go to school and frighten the teachers then.” o.O”
End of conversation 2.

Zara : “I don’t want to go to school.”
Me : “You just go and have fun Zara. Do your painting, play with the slides in the school. Just have fun.”
Zara : “I don’t like the park in the school. I like the park on grass one. That one no grass, not nice one.” (The school has an in-door play ground)
Me : “But you like Gymboree, there’s also no grass in Gymboree too.”
Zara : “I don’t like Gymboree. Our park in XXXX YYYYY got grass, is even more better.” (XXXX YYYYY == the name of our residential area) o.O”
End of conversation 3.

Zara : “I don’t want to go to school.”
Me : *for the xth time* “School is fun Zara, just go and have fun.”
Zara : “But I scared.”
Me : “Mummy and daddy will wait for you outside right?”
Daddy : “If you have any problem, you just come out and we’ll be there.”
Zara : “I open the door and come out?”
Daddy : “Yes, we’ll be waiting for you outside.”
Zara : “If I have any problem, mummy and daddy will be there?”
Me : “Yes. We’ll be outside. But I don’t think you’ll have any problem, so after class, you can come out and we’ll be waiting for you, ok?”
End of conversation 4.

Zara : “The dinosaur will go to the school and attack the teachers.”
Me : “Then what will happen to the children?”
Zara : “The brachiosaurus will play with the children. The T-Rex will attack and kill the teachers.”
Me : “Zara, there are no more dinosaurs. They are all dead.”
Zara : “All die already?”
Me : “Yes. All dead.”
End of conversation 5.

So how was she in class? When I said my good bye, I told her we’ll wait for her outside; before I left, I put my thumb up and mouthed the word “You’ll be ok?” Her eyes were a bit wet, but she nodded her head.
I went in and checked on her again when they were playing in the indoor play ground. “Mummy waiting for me outside?” She came forward and asked. I said yes, and told her to have fun.

Basically, she was ok in class, according to the teacher. This time, she didn’t even tell the teacher she needed to leave to go to Lake Gardens like she did every now and then last week.

I wonder if there’ll be more of such conversations every weekend when it’s time for school again.

We’d started sending Zara to play school once a week since 2 weeks ago. It’s a 1.5hr per week pre-kindergarten program which includes lots of play time (sand/water play and gym), with a bit of singing, reading, and phonics teaching.

Unlike Julia Gabriel Edu Drama class (which we eventually didn’t sign her up), I cannot be with her during lesson.

She cried the 1st lesson when I had to leave her (adviced by school to let them handle her even if she cried); separated by 2 doors, we could still hear her loud wailing. She stopped 20mins later, when they started doing sand and water play as well as painting.

Yesterday, she shed a drop or two of tears when I left her. Telling me with trembling lips, “Mummy I want to go home.” I just said my goodbyes and told her I would wait for her outside. She was ok throughout, but kept coming out when she had a chance to tell me, “”Mummy, I finish already. Can go home now?” The teacher told me she was ok in class, but every now and then, she would ask the teacher if she could leave to go to Lake Gardens to see the brachiosaurus (the teacher actually asked how Zara knows such words). o.O”

After lesson, we heard her saying to herself, “House is for mouse. Mouse lives in a house.” (they were probably doing the ‘ouse’ sound in class) and also singing some unknown songs. Looks like she’s already picking things up.

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On Saturday, we went to Lake Gardens. After which, we thought of having dinner in Hakka Restaurant.
Daddy : “Zara, we go to Hakka Restaurant for dinner ok?”
Zara : “No No. I want to go Dragon I. I want to eat the noodles there. Because the noodles there is so nice.”
Daddy : “But Hakka Restaurant is also nice.”
Zara : “No. The restaurant is too loud (even though she may not know where Hakka is, she always use this excuse to get us out of a restaurant). I want to go Dragon I. I want to eat the juicy pow. The juicy pow and the noodle very yummy one.”
Daddy to me : “Er, where is the nearest Dragon I?”
Me : “Mid Valley.”
Daddy to Zara : “Ok. Daddy bring you to Dragon I.”
(See, if I asked Daddy to bring me to Midvalley on a weekend, he’ll say I’m crazy. Whatever the daugther wants, he’ll just oblidge.)

Zara ate 1/3 bowl of plain la-mien (Chinese : Noodle) with a serving of 4 juicy pow xiao long bao (Chinese : pork dumplings). At least she ate what she said she wanted, and that made Daddy happy.

Zara wanted Daddy to show her some pictures on the computer, but she hasn’t taken her bath yet. So I nagged told Daddy : “Get her to bath first la.”
“If you start showing her now, she won’t go for her bath.”
Then to Zara : “It’s almost 10pm. Zara, you go and bath first.”
“You don’t bath, mummy ask Daddy not to show you huh?.”
“Go, go and bath first.”

Zara spoke scornfully, “Mummy, you stop it! You stop whining ok? Enough of whining ok?”

o.O”

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I was talking to Daddy casually while flipping through Donna Hay’s recipe book.
“Eh I think I’ll be fat if I was a chef, look at all the food I would be cooking.”
Zara heard what I said, and joined in, “Mummy you are fat wut.”
“Your stomach like pregnant wut.”

o.O”

I know I’m fat, you don’t have to remind mummy ok?

I’m the ‘bad’ guy who disciplines Zara at home. I use scolding, occasional smacking and when she’s really naughty, I’ll be putting her in the naughty corner.

There are times when I try to ‘discipline’ her and she ends up putting a smile on my face (although I try not to let her see that).

We were walking to the park, and she was irritated with something and started whining. I yanked her hand and stopped, stood still and looked at her. She took a glance at me, smiled and said, “Haha, I’m so grouchy..” Immediately, she stopped the annoying behaviour and walked on. 

She was touching the ‘untouchables’ in MIL’s place (glass deco items),  she refused to listen when we told her several times not to touch them, and eventually broke a piece of the glass wear. I told her, “Maybe I should put you in the naughty corner!”
She gestured to the living room corner which was filled with deco items and said, “No, the naughty corner got too many things, I cannot go” o.O”

And there was this time, she was crying for no reason for a long 15mins, so I sent her to the naughty corner. Daddy came to the rescue after a moment, and told her she could come out of it. With tears, she replied, “Cannot! Mummy put me here one!” and then looked at me arms stretched out, “Mummy, I’m sorry! I’m sorry!”
To her, since I’m the one who placed her there, I have to be the one who forgive her.

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There are times, when I see myself in her.

I’d heard her said this to the maids often with a very serious face, when she disapproved of their smiling.
“It’s not funny!! It’s not funny you know! You don’t laugh!”

And she’s ‘scolded’ Zaria for crying, “Mei Mei, you don’t cry! You stop crying! Mummy is working you know. You don’t disturb Mummy.”

I’d heard her said this to her Mr Blue, “Look at me! You go shopping you must hold hands yeah?! You don’t hold hands after you get lost! Then you have no more mummy!”

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And recently, she started talking back.
I had been ‘scolding’ her the whole day since she was whiny and cried for the smallest reasons. At night, when I was brushing her teeth and snapped at her again, she told me, “Mummy, you are like a wicked witch la. You always scold me la.”
I didn’t know if I should laugh of be angry with that statement, so I remained straight face and told her, “Mummy scold you sure got reason, ok? Mummy don’t simply scold you.”
End of conversation, for now.

Zaria was taking her nap in the noisy living room.
We were playing different types of music so Zara could dance to it.
We had Jackie Cheung blasting one minute, Eva Cassidy singing Somewhere Over The Rainbow next, then Carly Simon’s Itsy Bitsy Spider.

Zaria slept through the noise, not even a stir from her.

We then changed the CD to Vivaldi’s Spring.

We saw Zaria responding to the tune. She opened her eyes, listened a bit, blinked, then rubbed her eyes, and she started turning around, trying to find the source of the tune (the speakers) sleepily. It seemed she’s remembering the tune, which I played to her weekly (I have 7 sets of clasical tune which I alternated daily) with an mp3 player since I was four months pregnant with her. She rolled to her stomach and liistened without moving for half a minute before wriggling about again.

Ever wonder if a babies could recall things that happened when they were in their mother’s womb? I think they can based on this experience.

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Our paed gave me a sample tin of Neslec 1+. I thought I shouldn’t waste it, I let Zara have it on Sunday. After she’d taken a few sips, I stopped her and asked, “This is a new milk mummy is giving you, nice or not?”
Zara replied, “Not nice, old milk nicer. Old milk creamy creamy. New milk taste like mucus.”
I thought she was trying to be funny, “Taste like mucus meh?”
Zara replied, “Yeah, salty salty one.”
I took the bottle from her and had a sip, “Let mummy try.”
True enough, the milk is a little salty just like mucus.

I think milk companies should hire Zara to taste their milk since she has such acute sense of taste and able to describe the taste using lay man terms. >.O

These are some things she said recently which is ‘worthy’ of me keeping a record.

After her bath, she came out crying and screaming, she said, My petpet spicy“
I think she probably touched herself with soapy hands in the bath, but ‘spicy’? What a way to describe it.

She called Sam (my niece) on the phone the other day, I heard her said :
“Why you so long didn’t come my house?
You want to come?
I have kite you know
You can play with it, no problem.”

She was trying to tuck her ‘son’ Mr Blue to sleep on her bed.
“Mr Blue. I’m mummy Zara.
You feeling cozy?
It’s cozy here right?
You good boy?
Mummy (referring to herself) sometimes good girl, sometimes naughty girl.”

We saw a kite at our neighbour’s gate front, I asked if she knew what happened to the kite, she replied, “I think the wind suddenly stopped, so the kite fell down lok”

We showed her the wedding photo of the world’s tallest man in the newspaper, and Daddy told her about marriage : a man falls in love with a woman, the man tells the woman “I love you” and then asks her “Will you marry me?” and then they get married.
Zara came to me and said, “I love you mummy.” “Will you marry me?”. Awwwwwwwwwww..

Some of you wanted to know what was Zara’s reaction to my spots :
When I mentioned to her I was going to zap all my ‘moles’, she asked, “painful or not?”
I told her ‘Aunty Doctor’ is very clever to zap, not painful.
“Mummy, I also want to zap my mole, my mole on my knee” (and she pointed her little mole on her knee)
I told her that my moles are different kind of mole, it’s because I’m old already, so I get these moles. She didn’t have to zap hers.

When I got back from the doctor’s. She said, “Mummy look like leapord. Aunty Doctor zap zap mummy’s moles. Mummy old already, got lots of moles.” That’s also the explaination she helped me to give to the curious parents at the park.

I swing. I jump. And then I shout,
“This is what I’m all about!”
I’m Zipping, Zooming, Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

I cartwheel on.. then off the mat. My leaps are short, or long – like that.
On and off, short and long,
I do it all, ’cause I’m so strong.
I’m Zipping Zooming Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

A forward roll. A backward flip.
I’m high, then low, I rarely slip.
Forward, backward, high and low.
I’m putting on a wonderful show.
I’m Zipping, Zooming, Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

My feet are near. Out far they go.
Up and down, near and far.
I feel like I’m a superstar.
I’m Zipping, Zooming, Zara – the greatest gymnast of all.

And I even have a side kick. The flipping, drooling, Zaria.

Now, do you want my autograph, before I get too famous and popular?

‘Gymnastic’ is currently her favourite before bed time exercise.
Original text is taken and slightly modified from The Greatest Gymnast, currently one of Zara’s favourite books.

Kept Zara occupied for an hour by letting her do handpainting on a linen cloth (which can be kept as an art piece or wash away for reuse).
And she loves watching the baby fishes swimming in our ‘water feature’, and spotting the mummy fish which is pregnant.

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Two For The Price of One, that’s the bargain I got by bringing the two girls to Kidzsports, where Zaria is too young to be a paying guest, but old enough to have some fun.

Zaria had lots of fun in the pool of balls, then later she was really enjoying herself at the swing, so much so that ……
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
She fell blissfully asleep.

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Met Baby Shern, and his mummy at Zara. Zaria’s potential boy friend, Baby Shern was touching Zaria now and then. So cute! And I’m so envious of Baby Shern’s thick hair!

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I was in Zara on both Saturday and Sunday, since it’s their sales, and I just love the kids’ clothes there. I got the girls their birthday dresses (which is 5 and 6 months later, and Tuyam reminded me that they may outgrow the clothes before they get a chance to wear it), and lots of ja jam bo clothes spagetti strap tops for Zara in different colours.

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Had my biggest fright, when Zara fell from the high chair (she was monkeying around), and knocked her head on the metal leg of table in Fish & Co. I thought I was going to pengsan (Malay : faint) when I saw her crying and knew the severity of the fall.

Luckily, she was still alert despite the fall and was able to tell us where it hurt in between her wailing. She even repeated, “I don’t want to have stitches! I don’t want to have stitches!”, remembering her cousin Norman had some stitches on the head a month back when he knocked into a lamp post.

I really thank God it was just a small cut on the head. After 30mins of trying to calm her down, she was back to her normal self. She was even able to model her dress back home to Tuyam.

Besides the cut, she didn’t have other swelling on the head. This morning, when asked, she told me, “I’m fine. I’m better already.”; “a little bit painful only” and “I cried so much because I have a fright.”

Aunty Milkmaid and Babyshern’s mummy tagged my mummy on 7 vanity related facts, and Aunty Mott tagged my mummy on 7 random facts. Since Mummy is not vain, but lazy very efficent, she’d combined them, and got me to do it instead.

Here are 7 facts about me :
1) I think I’m pretty, because I look like my mummy (mummy held my hand and type in the last phrase).

2) Every time after a bath, I have to put on this Mustela face cream, and then have my hair combed nicely, this is my beauty regime. But kakak doesn’t stop there, she’ll rub on diaper cream on me even though I’d stopped wearing diaper, and also put on this ‘spicy’ oil on my stomach as though I’m still a baby.

3) I like to wear my Ja Jam Bo clothes (my kakak called it sexy clothes, my mummy say it’s called spagetti strep, I called it Ja Jam Bo clothes because that’s what the jie-jie who sings the Ja Jam Bo song on TV wore), showing off my shoulders and back, but I don’t like to show off my belly button, because I don’t want people to shame-shame me.

4) I like to have my hair long, but I don’t like to use clips, so sometimes I look like a shaggy dog (that’s what my daddy and mummy call me when they want to put on that clip on me).

5) I like to learn new words read books to expend my vocabulary, but when my daddy and mummy ask me to remember how to write A, B, C and the numbers; Oh boy, I think they are pushing too hard. They don’t know it’s ‘difficult’ for me to remember all these.

6) I love my meimei, but I think my mummy and daddy sometimes over react to some of my meimei’s achievement. They hooray her when she knows how to throw things, or when she says pbbbbttt! What about me? I can do all these and more!

7) I’m obsessed with scent, a training I got since young, because my Daddy and Mummy got me to smell whatever new things they showed me.
“Zara, see, this is a pumpkin, smell it.”
“Zara, this new lotion is nice, smell it.”
By sniffing a linen cloth, I know if the cloth is mine or mei-mei’s (mei-mei’s have puke or milk smell which is quite obvious).
And guess what, every time I come back from an outing, I like to smell my feet to see if they are smelly and need washing! Am I clever or what? But why my mummy and daddy didn’t hoorray me for this?

Now, I want to tag my mummy’s old friend Uncle Benny;
My mei-mei’s potential mother-in-law no. 1 Auntie Dr;
My mei-mei’s potential mother-in-law no. 2 Auntie Whoisbaby