My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

Being diagnosed of hyperopia a year ago, Zara has been wearing her glasses for a year, everyday, all the time.

What are the changes we see after she started wearing glasses?

She started reading more, and now an independent reader. Her glasses definitely helps her with reading (less taxing = more willing to read).

Maybe her judgement is affected due the high power and/or her glasses, she doesn’t run as fast as she used to, and she has difficulty picking up badminton. Or maybe, this is just my perception.

She needs to do patching daily (although most days she forgets), so that the vision of her right eye will improve.

So, how is she doing after 1 year?
Hyperopia power remains.
Astiq, right eye 0.50 increased.
Vision improved from 6/12 to 6/9.

Recently, we just got her glasses changed, and then I realised this :

Glasses and Long Lashes don’t compliment each other. No wonder she always have stain/lines on the inner part of her lens.

Sigh…..

Check out how the girls play with their Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday set.

They spent time checking out what came with the box. Deciding who should go first.

Zaria being the youngest, got to change Barbie’s clothes first (see the smile on her face for getting to go first).

Some of the clothes are a little challenging for the 5 1/2 to put on for Barbie, so Zara took over.

Zara : Maa, do you like Barbie in this?
Me : It’s one of my favourite.

Zaria: Jie, you need to put on a pair of shoes for Barbie (tried to put it on, but struggled)

Zara : (help out) Maybe we try this pair instead

……

Zaria the fashion diva at home said Barbie needed to have a bag.

…….

Then it was fashion show time. Barbie wearing all the beautiful clothes from Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday set.

Zara : All the clothes have to be back on the mannequin after the fashion show ma.

Zara : There ma.

…….

And then, Zaria decided Barbie should be robbed. o.O”

I overheard this conversation at the hypermarket the other day at the milk powder aisle.

“This one (brandX) is high in DHA, this is good”, said Mom A to her husband.
“Why is DHA so important?” asked her husband.
“DHA helps to build brain cell, so we should pick the milk powder with the highest content of DHA for our baobei now.” replied Mom A.

Looks like they have not heard about Gangliosides. I went over and started talking to them. (Do you realize it’s very easy to strike a conversation with other parents when we are all looking at/buying the same thing?)

I told them about Gangliosides, which a lot of parents are unaware.

Yes, DHA is important. It is a key building block of brain cells. But Gangliosides are also very important, as they help brain cells connect.

I showed them the pack of Anmum Essential I was planning to buy, showing them that it contains both DHA and Gangliosides.

I told them I didn’t know about Gangliosides earlier, so I was also like them, concerned only about DHA content. But now I know Gangliosides and DHA work hand in hand, one to build, the other to connect, and together will deliver a better outcome.

“Wa, so many things inside. Does it taste good?” asked her husband, not quite convinced.

“Nice. Very creamy!” my girls who was playing with their toddler answered (the girls, especially Zaria, like to ‘look after’ and play with toddlers nowadays.).

Mom A decided to buy a box to try, I don’t know if this will be her toddler’s Growing Up Milk eventually, but at least she will be making an informed choice.

Watch this TVC if you haven’t, so that you too are aware of what DHA and Gangliosides can do.

In July, prompted by friends, I joined A Photo A Day July. Take a photo every day in July based on the keyword given below, and then share the photo on Facebook or Instagram.

Here are some of the photos.

Day 6. Chair {The chair that grew with the children}

Day 7. Garden {Garden of bouquet}

Day 8. Lunch {Home cooked Thai style lunch}

Day 9. Big {Big responsibility for me during exams time}

Day 12. Texture {Science experiment with the girls which change the texture of the egg}

Day 13. Open {Zaria drew herself opening her mouth to take medicine}

Day 14. Building {Building a word puzzle as message for me after I scolded Zara for shouting as Zaria. It says, “And Zaria Bang The Door”}

Day 17. My Addiction {My addiction – buying books}

Day 19. Pet {Our pretty useless cat, rarely loving, still hisses at us after 8yrs with us, only home to eat.}

Day 22. Upside Down

Day 23. Mirror

Day 26. Sunshine

Day 24. Stranger {Stranger taking photo of the neighbourhood}

Day 30. Calm

I’m joining A Photo A Day August as well, will be posting the photos in September.

I have the winners of the Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy Giveaway!

They are *drum roll* :
Kristen
Nicole Wong
Shamsul Hafiz Mahat

All 3 of you will be getting a Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy set just like this.

Here are their comments :

Congratulations once again to the above winners. Kindly email your name, contact number and mailing address to winx@gocomm.com.my for prizes delivery purposes.

For those of you who didn’t win, it’s ok. Because there’ll be another 3 Giveaway for Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday. Giveaway will be announced sometime next week. Try your luck again next round.

Look what we got from Mattel? A Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday set!

Such a BIG SET!

Barbie is going on a holiday, so she’s bringing along, a comb, 5 sets of clothing, 5 pairs of shoes and 2 bags!

Zaria went, “Waaaaaaa” then silent, not knowing where to begin.

Lovely accessories.

Look at how intricate the shoes are.

Lucky Barbie! Lucky Girls!

As one of the girls’ favourite show currently is Barbie Fashion Fairytale, they absolutely love this set of Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday.

Watch out for a Giveaway of this Barbie Fashion Combo Holiday set later in the month!

Mean while, the girls will start enjoying their set first.

Conversation in the car yesterday when we talked about confirming Zaria’s placing in Zara’s school.

Me : So mei, next year you are going to jiejie’s school, ok?
Zaria : No. I don’t want to go to jiejie’s school. Because there’s bees and rotan (Malay : Cane) in her school. I want to go to English school (Zara spotted bees in her school and told Zaria about it)
Me : We cannot afford English school. So you either go Chinese school or Malay school. So which one do you want? Chinese or Malay?
Zaria : English
Me : You can only choose Malay or Chinese?
Zaria : English
o.O”
Me : But we don’t have money to send you to English school. So how? You want to stop going to school?
Zaria : No. Then I want to be in home school.
o.O”
Me : Who’s going to teach you?
Zaria : You.
Me : But I’m so fierce. You want me to teach you?
Zaria : Daddy.. Daddy then.
Dad : But daddy sometimes not around.
Zaria : Daddy teach(es) me when Daddy is home. When he’s not home, mummy teach(es) me.
(she has it all planned out).
o.O”

Later I asked her.
Me : Do you know what is home school?
Zaria : A house that gives you homework.
o.O”

Not sure if this one will reject Chinese school next year. Sigh.

Oh no, this is not a political post. Read on.

Zara just finished her exams recently. This round, as I was not well for a couple of days, she was a bit slack in her revision (because I’m not there to go through stuff with her).

She told me her class teacher mentioned that she didn’t do as well this round, so I gave her a lecture.

Me : Yada yada yada. Next time if you don’t do your own revision when I asked you to, fine! If you did badly in your exams, I’m going to throw your books away in the dustbin. Since you don’t want to study, then no need to study. Can go sweep the street when you are older. Yada yada yada.
Zara : (angry) If you want to throw my books away in the dustbin, go and throw then. After that, you need to speak to Najib and explain to him everything.
o.O”
Zaria : Who is Najib, mummy? Hehe, how come his name is so funny.
Me : (still o.O”) Najib is our prime minister.
(recovered) So, why do I need to speak to Najib? What has he got to do with your studies?
Zara : My teacher says the books are given to us by Najib, so if we don’t take care of them, we’ll have to explain to Najib.
o.O”

Najib will be very busy if he has to get involved in these.

When choosing a Growing Up Milk for children, I realized, most parents will choose one which contains DHA. This is a key word in the packaging of a Growing Up Milk that most parents will look for.

Like all parents, it was one of my criteria in choosing a milk powder too, until I learnt about the importance of Gangliosides.

If DHA is a building block of brain cells, Gangliosides on the other hand does brain cells connections.
When there is more brain cells connection, the kids will learn faster, and able to relate to what they learn. The more brain cells connection there is, the smarter the kid will be.

So what should we look for now in Growing Up Milk? DHA or Gangliosides? How about both combined together?

Did you watch the advert featured on TV?

DHA and Gangliosides complements each other, when they come together, great things happen.

Looking around, no other Growing Up Milk offer both of these except Anmum Essential (its new formulation contain more DHA and more Gangliosides).

This is something I will consider when I’m choosing a Growing Up Milk for the girls, I want a milk not just to build brain cells but one that can help brain cells connection too. What about you?

Would you like one of these?

No? Not the drawing?

How about this?

Now is your chance!

Barbie is giving away THREE SETS of Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy to THREE of my readers.

To win one of these, leave a comment on this post with your email address.

In the comment, answer the below question :
What are the 3 things that Zaria drew on her picture which you can find in the Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy set?

(hint, read previous Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy review. Here and here)

AND

Complete this slogan : I love to win Barbie Flower N Flutter because…

Giveaway is open to Malaysia readers only. This will start on July 19th and will run until July 27th 2012.

At the end of 27th July 2012, Barbie will choose the winner, and then it’ll be announced here. Barbie Flower N Flutter Fairy will then be sent to the lucky winner.

Good luck!