One day, just out of fun, we had this discussion.

Me : *asking the girls* “Do you think you are my children? I think maybe the stork delivered you to me.”
Zara : “No, we are your children. If we are not your children then you’ll have to have another baby. You’ll have 3 daughters!”
Me : “Huh? Why do I have to have another baby?”
Zara : “(Because) You don’t take a husband for no reason.” o.O” (looks like, to her, husbands are only meant for reproduction purpose!)

Zara : “Anyway, I can feel your intestine last time.”
Me : “When you were in my stomach?” o.O”
Zara : “Ya, and I was playing with the umblical cord.” o.O”
Zara : “I can (could) hear your voice.” o.O”
Me : “What did I say?”
Zara : “I can’t remember.”
Isn’t this spooky? Although she said it’s true, but I think she only said this as she saw the videos I showed her on youtube.

Zara : “And I have your eyes.”
Me : “Zaria doesn’t have my eyes, so maybe she’s not my daughter”
Zara : “She has daddy’s genes”

Now Zaria interupted and asked : “What’s jeans? I have Daddy’s jeans?”

But Zara ignored her and continued : “Her eyes are like Daddy. And, she has Ah Kong’s (Hokkien : Maternal grandfather’s) bulgy forehead. She has Ah Kong genes, so she’s also your daughter.”

Hmm.. ok.. she does know her stuff.

I wish I was like HN and HN’s husband Lybil, who are so soft spoken, especially with their children Sophie and Sethy.

We do raise our voices with the children, and although they may not like it, sometimes we just had to do it to get our message across. What do the children do when we raise our voices at them?……….

Not sure what happen, but I think Zaria was scolded by Daddy who was coaching Zara with Bahasa Malaysia (she was probably disturbing them). So she came upstairs extremely upset, and complained to me, “I don’t like my Daddy any more. I think I’m going to throw him in the dustbin. But if he says sorry, I’ll pick him back up from the dustbin.”

And later the same day, Zaria wanted take some photos with the point and shoot, so I let her. I strapped it around her neck (in case it dropped, it won’t crash on the floor). She happily went down to look for Daddy, planning to take some shots of Zara and Daddy.

Daddy, of course freaked out. His cameras are his second (and third) wife ok. He told me off claiming I’m crazy to let Zaria play with the camera, and snatched the camera away from Zaria and told her loudly she cannot play with the camera. So again, Zaria came up stairs, this time crying. I told her that’s because the camera is so precious to Daddy. She replied through her sobs, “If I die already.. then you no more meimei right. If the camera spoilt, daddy can still buy another one. Who’s more precious.” o.O”

Zara on the other hand tries not to say anything mean when she’s angry (one part of her nightly prayer is “Jesus please help me not to say anything bad.”). So what does she do? She draws.

Today, she got scolding from me because she was fooling around when she was doing her keyboard practice. So she stopped playing, turned off the keyboard, went down stairs, and 15 minutes later came upstairs with this drawing.

(I locked her in a chamber, and shot her with a gun, the speech bubble is saying, “I don’t love you.” See how wicked I looked! o.O”)

I laughed when I saw that (couldn’t help it, really). I asked her if I looked so evil? And if I would ever shoot her? She broke down and cry, only after some hugging and reassurance, she stopped crying and felt better.

While shopping, I was passed this brouchure.

The girls took over the brouchure, had a look and both said, “Eeeeeyer… so disgusting… How come the auntie gave you thiss??”
I told them she’s trying to sell me this coffee that will make me be lovey dovey after drinking.
“It’s a love potion?” They asked.
I didn’t reply, but just joke with them. “I think I should buy this to drink.”
Zaria shrieked, “Eeeeyer, then you and Daddy will be like that?”
Zara agreed, “Eeeeeyer….I don’t want” Then she thought for a while and added, “Anyway, how does it know who to make you love?”
I told them it doesn’t make you love someone new, it just makes you love a person you already love more.

Zara then said, “I think Zaria should drink this… that will make her love her family more and will not beat them.” (as Zaria has been throwing lots of tantrums last week, and always beat us when she’s not happy).

After a couple of days, she picked up the brouchure and said, “I don’t think it’ll work with you and Daddy.”
I asked her why?
She said, “Because, it’s the way you treat each other. You always scold him, and he….. *shook her head* I don’t know how to explain it.” o.O”
I asked her, “So, what should Daddy and Mummy do to be more loving.” (hoping she’ll give us our visa to go out)
She said, “You should just think and not say anything. Just think… and then after that, do whatever you need to do.”
I probed further, “Huh? How will that work? Just think?”
She replied, “Yes, just think….. think a lot, think a lot on how you can be loving, and just do it.”

o.O” I don’t know what she meant, but she’s speaking like a love guru.

Some of the things the little one said recently.

One day we went to visit a friend who lives in Valencia. I told the girls, “Uncle Chang’s house is so nice right? It’s surrounded by trees.”
Zara replied, “Ya, it’s like a forest.”
Zaria asked, “Does he like to hunt?” o.O”

We were walking around Solaris, when we passed a restaurant which had some Paris Cafe kind of music playing, Zaria asked, “Is this a Ratatouile’s restaurant?” (if you’d watched Ratatouile, the music played in the movie is all Paris Cafe kind).
And when we walked passed another restaurant which was blasting pop song, “This one is not Ratatouile’s restaurant.. the music is different.”
Good that she’s observant.

When she’s angry with us, she sometimes will says things like,
“I’m not talking to you any more.”
“I don’t like you any more.”
So one day, she was angry with me, and I asked her, “Are you talking to me?”
She said, “I’m still angry with you. But I’m talking to you. Oh Kay!!” o.O”

Another day, she was angry for no reason and threw a tantrum, so I asked her during dinner, “I think you forget to say something to mummy for your behaviour.”
“Let me calm down first… Oh Kay??!!” o.O”

She spilled some barley drink so Jelly scolded her. She came upstairs asked if she could drink mine. I told her, “Go and ask Aunty to give you a glass.”
She drank mine, and said, “She’s angry with me, so what can I do?” o.O”

One day in the car, Daddy and I were having a heated discussion.
Zaria said, “If the two of you cannot get along, I’ll have to saperate you. One go to ma-ma’s house, another one stay at home!” o.O”
Zara explained, “They are not fighting ok, they are just talking.”

When the ice cream man arrived at the play ground, a few children rushed towards him to get their ice cream. Zaria asked if she could have one as well and I said no. Zaria said sulking, “All the children are so happy except me!” o.O”

She was walking and then she adjusted her panties, we asked her, “What are you doing.”
She replied, “My bum bum always eat my panties!” o.O”

So entertaining.. this one.

The other day Zara taught me something.

Zaria was playing with a watermelon in the kitchen.
First trying to kick it like a ball.
I told her, “Don’t do it, this is not a ball!”
Then she tried picking it up.
I raised my voice, “DON’T DO IT. This is NOT a ball!”
She ignored me, and then picked it up (she’s really strong, this one), and then tossed it like a ball.

“SPLAT“

The watermelon cracked into two.

It was the time of the month, you know, when women get grouchy, and easily irritable.

So I took the cane, and gave her a twack on the butt.

She cried of course. Looking for Jelly, then Daddy to ‘sayang’ her.

Zara who just came out from the toilet, saw the watermelon cracked into two, and Zaria wailing. She told Zaria, “Never mind Zaria, it’s a small matter. It’s not like you broke mummy’s precious jug or what.”

It’s like this light just shone down on me. Yah, it’s not even a precious jug or what, why did I cane her? Then I told Zara, “But I caned Zaria, even though it’s not a precious jug.”
Zara told me, “It’s ok. Just remember next time don’t do it again.” o.O”

So that day, I learnt from my child.

Thank You.

I’m not capturing much of what Zara said these days because she’s speaking longer sentences, and I have a hard time memorising these. I’m however, started to capture the more interesting things she said using my phone Note Apps. Even she’s telling me, “Ma, are you recording what I’m saying?” 😛

This girl is getting extremely good with articulating her thoughts or getting her message across.

She’s very good with giving a punch line, or being creative with names calling.

For example, when she’s upset with Daddy, she’ll say something like “Excuse me, Daddy Raddy, …..” or “I’m dissapointed with you Bow Daddy.”
(Daddy Raddy or Bow Daddy terms she made up along the conversation).

She’s good in talking back to Daddy; like telling Daddy, “You don’t have a brain, you just have a butt.”

One day, the two girls were playing in the car, shouting, laughing, making so much noise. Daddy told them to be quiet, and then he started talking to me. Zara said sulkily, “The one who asked me to be quiet can’t keep quiet himself.” o.O”

Another day, Zara stepped on Daddy’s tripod, and Daddy scolded Zara, “Told you how many times not to step on my things! Come! Let me step on your head and see.” (oh, all the photography gear to him is soooooo precious)
Zara started crying and told him, “My head is more important or your thing is more important? My head right? Why did you say you want to step on it?” o.O”

Yesterday, on the rare occasion where I turned on the TV, I saw an interesting TVB drama on NTV7 (I think that’s the channel). The TV was left turned on while we were having dinner. When I saw Zaria was not eating her meal but kept looking at the TV, I turned it off.
Zara said, “Just now you were not my real mummy. Now you are my real mummy.” I asked her why did she say that, and she replied, “Real mummies won’t teach their children bad habbits by having bad habbits themselves.” (bad habbit == watching TV while eating) o.O”

She did very well in her Chinese reading homework and also piano practice (normally, both of us end up being angry with each other because I get angry with her not paying attention, and she gets angry with me loosing my patience), so I told her, “You did so well today for your reading and your piano playing, and I’m so proud of you.”
She replied, “Ma, I did well to impress you.” o.O”

This girl, if she’s going to a English medium school, will sure not have problem. But.. this is Malaysia, and I cannot afford to send her to international school. 🙁

Woh… more than a week I’d not posted anything. If you wanted to know why, go here. I’ll be posting more photos of the holiday here once I sorted out all the photos.

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Recently in blogsphere, we’d lost a dear friend, Lisa. She has been battling cancer with so much spunk, but eventually, cancer won. We’d lost her, but heaven has gained an angel.

We’ll always remember her fighting spirit, her generosity, her humour despite the situation, her positive vibes.

We’ll always miss her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~~

I’m not sure if it’s a good thing to expose my children to death at such an early age.

This year, Zaria has attended my grandfather’s funeral, and I also brought her along when I went to pay Lisa my last respect.

She used to tell me “Ma, I don’t want you to be fat.” occasionally. Because she knows fat = unhealthy or maybe it was the Harry Potter’s Prisoner of Azkaban that she saw where Harry inflated his aunt.

She would tell me I need to exercise, and if I missed my sit ups in the night, she would ask me, “Why you didn’t do your exercise, ma? I don’t want you to be fat. You must do your exercise.”

Now this week, her tone has changed. She’ll tell me “Ma, I don’t want you to be old.”
She says that to me, Daddy, and even Jelly.
And she’ll work herself to tears after a while, sobbing quietly away, and said, “But I don’t want you to be old.” after we’d explained to her (upteenth time) growing old is natural, and we’ll all go through that.

Yesterday, she brought this up again. Before she shed her first drop of tear, I told her, “All of us will grow old. Even you, you’ll grow bigger, you’ll be 4, then 5, then 6 and then one day you’ll be sixteen.”
She replied, “But I don’t want to grow bigger or older. I want to be small forever.” o.O”

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On our way back to school, we had a chat about the day. Zara as usual likes talking about her best friend WY, telling me about WY’s dad etc. I asked her, “Do you know what WY’s daddy do?” (I was asking more of occupation).
She replied, “I don’t know.”
I asked again, “If people asked you what your Daddy does, do you know (what to say)?”
She replied, “Ya, I know. My Daddy always sleeps, sometimes he snores. My Daddy wear glasses. My Daddy always drinks tea. Sometimes my Daddy goes out with his friends to drink beer.” o.O”
(Wow Daddy, you sounds like someone who’s retired and having a good life.)
I asked another question, “What does Mummy do then?”
She replied, “You bake and you read a lot of books.”

I’ll have to give her more details about our occupations soon.

Zaria was very good the whole of last week. No horrible temper, or fierce tantrum. I think my lecturing (and also the smacking) did put some sense into her. The whole of the week, I never had to raise my voice at her. She’ll listen if I speak nicely to her, and if not, just a little more stern, and she’ll budge. At least I know how to handle this one.

Everytime when we wanted to take a photo of her (if she didn’t volunteer), she’ll be twisting and turning to avoid the camera

Some of the things she said lately :

At dinner, she’s always chewing her food real slowly; one day, Jelly asked her to hurry up, she replied, “I still got food in my mouth.”
Jelly said, “Where got?”
She replied, “I’m chewing unvisible (invisible) food.” o.O”

Hiding behind the curtains

One day, she did a beautiful drawing and she showed it to me. After that, she took a pen and started scribbling on her drawing.
I told her, “What are you doing? Your drawing is so nice, why are you scribbling on your beautiful drawing?”
She told me irritably, “It’s my drawing right? I can do anything I want with it right?” o.O”

Finally, managed to get a shot of her.

The girls were demanding that we have dinner at their favourite restaurant, Dragon I, but I wanted Japanese. So I told them, “Why not the 2 of you stay at home, and I go and pak toh (Cantonese: dating) with Daddy, since both of you don’t like Japanese?”
Zaria replied, “You cannot go pak toh. After you come back with another baby then how?” o.O” (get married = have baby, now pak toh also can have baby)

The girls were fighting over who gets to control the fate of the arm rest in the car, Zara wanted to rest her harm on the arm rest, Zaria wanted it to push it back in. So we told Zaria, “It’s an arm rest right? So let jiejie rest her arms.”
She got upset with us not supporting her, “You say some more I’m going to write something bad about you Dad. I’m also going to write something bad about you Mum.” o.O”
(writing something good to her is “I ♥ Mum” and “I ♥ Dad”, I guess, writing bad is “I don’t ♥ Mum” and “I don’t ♥ Dad”? But wait till she has her blog or facebook.

Zaria is a cheeky girl, but a little morbid at times..

Daddy was talking to me in the car, and Zaria wanted to say something to Zara, and so she told Daddy, “Daddy you stop talking!!! STOPPPPPPPPPP…”
Daddy told her, “I talk to mummy, you talk to jiejie, why must I stop?” and he continued talking to me.
Zaria shouted from the back, “I said stop!!!!! I cannot concentrate if you are talking. If you talk some more, I’ll buy some firecrackers and put in your mouth!”
o.O”
(Later, we asked her where did she learnt how to put ‘firecrackers’ in the mouth, she said it was in her Donald Duck show, where don’t know who put dynamite into Donald’s mouth.. See.. Disney cartoons do teach you violence too!)

We were talking about being a doctor, and Zaria said, “If someone cough cough cough until cannot stop. Then I’ll cut her neck and take out the cough!”
o.O”

I was showing Zaria a bracelet from Mom’s Little Treasure Box that I’d ordered for the girls.
Zaria asked, “Where is the bracelet now?”
I told her it’s still with Dinah.
Zaria asked, “In Auntie Dinah’s house?”
I replied, “Ya….”
Zaria said, “If Auntie Dinah don’t give us, then I’ll…. *she put her hand on her neck and did the slicing motion across her neck, then stuck out her tongue*”
o.O”

I was helping her at the toilet, she said, “Maaa… my she-she is so yellow.”
I said, “Aaah.. told you to drink lots of water right? See.. don’t drink water so your she-she is yellow.
Zaria replied, “Nooo.. My she-she yellow because I drink a lot of chrysanthemum.”
o.O”

She has a very fierce temper, when she’s unhappy, she’ll beat Daddy (it’s always him who became her victim), mess up the furniture and once, she even threw food from the dining table. When she behaved in such a manner, I’ll use the cane (actually it’s a big chopstick) and give her a stroke. Nowadays, she’ll cry after I smack her and say, “You want to leave me another cane mark, is it!!!???”
o.O”

The girls are growing up so fast, and loosing their Kiddish English or Thoughts.

Although we conciously try to correct them (especially Zaria) when they mispronounced words or made gramatical mistakes, so that they get a good start in the language, none-the-less, I like to reminisce the little mistakes or the innocent thoughts they have.

Here is to capture a few of them.

Over dinner, Zaria was holding a princess book of stickers (Thanks to Rachel), then she asked me, “Maa, which one you think is mosest pretty?”
(mosest = most)
😀

~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~

In the car, the girls wanted to see who can count the fastest.
Zaria gave the command to start the race, “Alamak… get set, go!!”
(alamak = on your mark)
😀

~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~

Zaria always pronounce Maggie Mee as Mega Mee, so I asked her, “Why you always call maggie mee as mega me?”
She replied, “No, I never say mega mee wut, I say meh-ger mee.”
😀

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One day, Zara was standing behind me watching my computer display.
She asked, “Maaa, what are you doing?”
I told her, “You know how to read right? So you read this (pointing to the top left of the display), and tell me what I’m doing.”
She slowly read (phonetically), “Feh-Keh-dook.”
o.O”

If you don’t get it,
Fa == Feh
ce == Keh
book == dook (she always mixed up d and b)

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We were seated right at the back in the church attending my grand father’s 100th day mass, making it difficult for the kids to see what’s happening at the alter (and although I’m Catholic, the girls don’t go to church. o.O”).
During the eucharistic prayer, when the server rang the bell, Zaria tip toed, tried to see what’s happening in front and asked, “Is that Santa Clause??”
😀

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Daddy brought the girls out to do grocery shopping, and normally after shopping, he always gives the girls an ice cream treat. However, on this particular day, as both the girls had the flu, Daddy said no ice cream for the day.
Zaria begged Daddy, “Give me a chance dad…”
😀
Daddy gave her a chance by buying her smarties instead.

~~~~~~~~~~~ . ~~~~~~~~~~~

Girls were fighting just before I finished work.
So when I got downstairs, I took the cane and asked them who started the fight first, and what they each did.
Zara kicked Zaria down from the sofa; her punishment, 1 cane stroke.
Zaria kicked Zara numorous times because she wanted space on the sofa; her punishment, 1 cane stroke too.
While caning Zaria, her skirt actually prevented the cane from touching the buttocks, so I lifted her skirt and smack again.
She cried and looked at me with pitiful eyes, and through her sobs, she asked, “Maa, *sob sob*, you *sob sob* want to give me *sob sob* a cane mark?? *sob sob*”
o.O