My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

Zaria, now nick named Little Mozart at home, has progressed a lot since she’s started Yamaha JMC class. I talked about her progress about a year back, and now doing JMC Book 3, she loves playing the keyboard even more.

Besides playing the pieces taught in class, she tries to play the solfege pieces teacher got them to sing in class. Normally, the teacher will play the tune in class, and the children will sing the solfege; recently, she started playing these pieces on her own, even including the chords.

Here is a solfege piece she played.

She likes fiddling at the keyboard, playing her pieces using sounds from different instrument. She can spend 30mins to 1hr at the keyboard a day.
When she wakes up in the morning, the first thing she does when she goes downstairs, is to play the keyboard.
When she comes back from school, the first thing she does is again to play the keyboard.
She watches closely when Zara is practicing her Grade One piece, sometimes asking Zara to teach her. Being a very impatient person, even with Zara shouting at her when she made mistake, she persevered (which showed, she has a lot of interest in piano), and one day, she showed us she could play the Andante, mainly by watching Zara played and some some guidance from Zara.

She likes to be called Little Mozart, more so after she watched Amadeus with us, knowing how talented Mozart is.

And this cute piece was what she drew after her Yamaha class last week, the musical notes of a solfege piece her teacher has gone through in class.

My happy Mozart. Daddy said Zaria has actually toned down a lot after she started being very into music. Just hope her interest will continue.

We drove to Singapore during the recent March school holidays (March 10th ~ 13th) , as a reward for all Zara’s hardwork during her 1st term exams.

Upon a friend’s recommendation, I bought a Marriott Vacation Club Holiday Package Voucher. A 3D/2N stay in Ritz Carlton Millenia for a very good price, and we extended another night at YMCA International House.

The room in Ritz Carlton is oh my, super duper nice. It’s been a while since we’d stayed in such a nice hotel as a family. The girls absolutely love it! We told them this is a five star hotel, and we can’t normally afford to stay in such a hotel.

The girls upon arrival, went to check out if there’s Carton Network on the TV.

(Before we arrived, Zara was telling me this, “Since it’s a high class hotel, maybe they won’t have Cartoon Network. They will only show all the modelling shows, arts on their TV.”)

The view, from the room and bathroom….beautiful; and what I love most is the bathroom with the big bathtub!

You asked about Zara’s dark side? Here it is..

She worries too much.

Over school spelling/ting xie (听写)
Zara : I don’t think I have ting xie tomorrow. But what happens if I have?
Me : Did you check your gong ke biao (功课表/homework list).
Zara : But what happens if I copied wrongly?
Me : Did your teacher say there’s ting xie tomorrow?
Zara : No, he didn’t. But what happens if I heard wrongly? Then I get everything wrong? I’ll get smacked.
Me : If it’s not in your gong ke biao (功课表/homework list), and you didn’t hear your teacher say there’s ting xie, then there is no ting xie! OK!
Zara : But…..
Me : Zara, please…..next time double check your gong ke biao, and if your teacher says tingxie or something, write it down somewhere so you’ll remember.
Started shedding tears, kept very quiet, looked worried. o.O”

Over school homework 1.
Zara : Can you read the instruction and tell me if I need to colour the picture
Me : *read* No, it just asks you to write the sentence that’s all.
Started shedding tears, kept very quiet, looked worried.
Me : *impatient* What is it now?
Zara : What happens if I need to colour?
Me : The instruction didn’t ask you to colour!
Zara : What happens if I my teacher asked me to colour? Can you call him and ask? o.O”
Me : We only call teacher for important thing. This is not important.
Daddy : If you think you need to colour then colour.
Zara : What happens if I colour and my teacher didn’t want me to colour, then he scold me?
Daddy : If the instruction said no need to colour, and you went and colour, it’s doing extra work. Teacher won’t scold you for doing extra work.
Looked exceptionally troubled, then relieved.
Zara : I think I’ll colour lightly, if teacher didn’t want us to colour, I’ll just rub of the colour when I’m in school.
(Whatever!)

Over school homework 2.
Zara : I need a photo from our holiday.
Me : Do you really need one? *read the instructions* Instructions says you either stick a photo, or draw a picture of you on holiday.We don’t have a photo printed, so you just draw.
Zara : What happens if my drawing doesn’t look real? Then teacher will beat me.
Me : You are only 7 yrs old, your teacher cannot expect you to draw something that look real.
Daddy : Ya, your teacher wont’ expect you to draw like Picasso or Van Gogh.
Ok, that settles it. She started drawing herself climbing a tree which she did during the March holidays. After finished drawing and colouring, she looked worried.
Zara : What happens if my teacher asked me where are my parents?
o.O” OMG!
Me : *patiently* Just tell him, we are watching you from afar, so we are not in the picture
Zara : What happens if he said, “你的爸爸妈妈在那里？做什么没有在图画里？”(where are your parents, why are they not in the picture) and scold me.
Me : *impatiently* Zara, your teacher is not unreasonable. Just tell him what I told you. Your parents are watching you. If you are so worried, then just draw 2 shadows of us watching you.
Zara : What happens if cannot, every body must show their faces?
Started shedding tears, kept very quiet, looked worried. o.O”
Me : *very impatiently* Zara, it’s not the end of the world. Your teacher doesn’t beat you or scold you for no reason ok? You won’t get scolding or beating for things like that. Please. Little thing you worry, little thing you worry. If you worried so much, next time just copy down all the instructions the teacher gives, then you won’t miss it.
Daddy : Next time, just take your friends’ phone number. Better still, take 2 friends. Then if you are not sure, just call them and ask.

……..

I was expecting the next question, What happens if they are not home?” o.O”
But phew… luckily she didn’t start..

……..

And no, her teacher is not really unreasonable. I’m not aware she’s been scolded or beaten for any homework related thing. So far, she’s been caned (she said lightly) on the palm because her nails were not clipped according to the teacher’s standard (not all the way to the skin), and Daddy has already gone to the school to tell the teacher to exercise more care in his punishment, teacher apologised and told Daddy he will.

……..

Tell me, if your kid is like that and how you handle it?

Some of the characters and behavior of Zara seen at this age.

She says thank you generously.
“Thank you dad, thank you mum, for bringing me out.” After a shopping trip.
“Thank you Auntie Minerva for cooking us dinner.” After dinner at home.
“Thank you mom for the story.” After bed time stories.
“Thank you mom, for doing revision with me.” After doing revision with her and scolding her many times for things she couldn’t grasp after a few telling.

She likes to join in adult’s conversation, and will share her thoughts as and when, but never being rude.
“Excuse me, can I say something here? …. (yada yada yada).”

She is getting more responsible in getting her homework done on a timely manner, revising her spelling / ting xie (听写) on her own before coming to me to go through with her.

She is generous with her money. E.g.
1) She stopped taking her RM5/week allowance from me, as she said I can collect the money and sponsor a World Vision gift on her behalf.
2) When I mentioned I was interested in a Thermomix but have no money, she went to the room and took out her life savings piggy bank and passed it to me. “You can take this and buy whatever you want.”

Rarely does she throw tantrum, but when she does, it’s normally because she’s very tired.

She makes friends easily, and plays well with most kids.

She dislike having male teachers.
Her class teacher this year is a male teacher, she told me she doesn’t like him.
She cried last weekend refusing to go to swimming class because they changed her teacher from a female to a male. When I asked her why, her reply, “I don’t like boys to touch me.”
(I was worried and probed further, wondering if the male teacher touched her inappropriately, she told me he just held her elbow when teaching her the stroke, but she didn’t like it.) o.O”

She can take a lot of my crap, like my shouting and unnecessary scolding (mostly happen during revision). She will wipe away her tears, and then continues listening me. In the end still says, “Thank you mum, for helping me.”
Making me feel very guilty.
However, she will insist I say sorry to her later.

These are all her mature qualities.

She still plays like a crazy kid, jumping on beds, climbing poles/trees.
Picky on her food.
Eating like a connoisseur, “This fried rice taste likes there’s no garlic and onion in it, I don’t like.”
She still bullies Zaria occasionally, giving her pinch, or a smack sometimes for no apparent reason; although most of the time they are best of friends.

This is Zara, my girl who’s turning into a little lady.

After 24 days without a helper, with many broken promises from our Agent, and many missed datelines, our new helper Minerva finally arrived on Feb 29th.

In the beginning, with Minerva’s arrival, my schedule was still in a chaos.

1) I had to finish the 4 photobooks that I’d ordered via groupon by March 12th.

2) My boss had asked for the impossible to happen, which is to roll out the tool that I’m responsible for to China within 2months (when in normal circumstances, minimum 3 months lead time is required).

3) Zara was having her first exams in March, and I had to revise with her.

4) Daddy was away for almost 2 weeks.

In between working, I would be training Minerva and chauffeuring the kids. After work, I’ll be doing revision with Zara. And then when the girls were off to beds, I would be completing whatever work that wasn’t completed for the day, and then worked on the photobook.

For as long as 2 weeks, my average sleeping time was 2am!

My crazy schedule is finally over.

Zara’s exams are over, and the girls now have a week of school holidays, so no more revision and chauffeuring required!
Minerva is starting to understand our schedule and work.
Photobooks are done and submitted for printing.
The stake holder responsible for China roll out has agreed to a deployment in June, giving us more time to work on things.
And Daddy is back (not that it helped, because he caught the flu bug and all he’s been doing around is sleep since he got back).

The biggest pay off for all the hard work? Zara scored 100% for her Chinese! Yee Har!

You’ll be seeing more posts after this.

After seeing the Testimonial Print ads (as mentioned in my previous post), I went to search for Anmum Essential during our weekly shopping at Giant.

First thing I did when I picked up a box was to check the Nutrition Information. Carbohydrate per serving is 11.8g, which is the natural sugar level (as the experts mentioned). My next question was, since it’s confirmed added sugars free, how would it taste like?

There was a very friendly promoter from Anmum Essential that day. She had some tester, so she gave me a small serving to try.

Taste wise, creamy, with just a hint of sweetness, and the best part is, I didn’t taste the ‘metalic’ taste and smell that comes with other Growing Up Milk (GUMP).

The girls were not with me, so I wasn’t sure if I should purchase a pack since the girls are pretty particular with their food and drinks, so I asked if there are samples which I can bring home.

The friendly promoter gave me a pack of Step 3 sample (meant for 1 to 3 yrs) since she only has that. When I asked her if Zara being 8yrs old this year is too old to drink Step 4 (meant for 3yrs and above), she started relating her experience to me. She has a 20year old college going son, and he is drinking Anmum Essential as well. According to her, he likes the taste, and mainly he thinks drinking the milk helps him to concentrate better when he studies and when he sits for exams. She thinks it’s the Gangliosides and DHA at work. Interesting. Therefore, Anmum Essential Step 4, should be suitable for both Zara and Zaria.
Once I got home, I made a glass for the girls.

And what did Zaria think?

Taste wise, yums! According to her.

Zara who originally didn’t want to try, took a sip, and asked me to pour some for her as well.

She said it’s nice, and the best is, no smell! (She complained previously that the Growing Up Milks (GUMPs) we were giving her has a revolting smell)

So both the stakeholders are happy with the taste.

Anmum Essential. Here is a milk we do not need to make any compromises. I’m happy it’s packed with advanced nutrients for brain such as Ganglisides and DHA, with absolutely no added sugars; the girls are happy with the taste!

To parents out there, you should not have to compromise in your choice for growing up milk for your children. Why should you accept advanced nutrition which comes with a lot added sugars when you choose certain type of growing up milk?

As in the advertorial, Karen Chong mother of 2 daughters like me, who worries about her children consuming too much sugar, was introduced to Anmum Essential by a friend. She does not want to compromise on nutrients for her children’s drain development. She switched to Anmum Essential and has been recommending Anmum Essential to other mums in her playgroup.

Suzanne Hamzah, after seeing the Amnum Essential television ads about no added sugar, consulted her doctor and decided to make the switch. Her son, even says it tastes ‘nice’, just like my girls.

So many real mums have made the smart choice in switching to Anmum Essential, and I have too.

As if prompted by the search I was on for a suitable Growing Up Milk (GUMP) for my girls, I saw the Testimonial Print ads on Star last week.

This was the ad shown.

Knowing that all the GUMs in the Malaysian market has lots of added sugars (I’d tasted a couple the girls used to drink, they are SWEET!), the ‘Tanpa Gula Tambahan’ (Malay : No Added Sugars) caught my attention!

I read further and realized this is the New Anmum Essential. It is a new concentrated formulation with 100% more DHA, and absolutely no added sugar! Finally, a milk with all the nutrients but without the added sugar and calories!

This really got me! I’m going shopping soon, to get some Anmum Essentials.

Meanwhile, I’d joined the Anmum Club Page on Facebook. It’s a Page which you can find parenting knowledge from other mums. Their Mum Knows Best is like a parenting forum to share and get experiences and tips around nutrition for growing up children.

One and the half month is over for 2012. What has been happening here? All I can say is BEEZEE.

School.
Zaria goes to kindergarten in the morning. Zara goes to school in the afternoon.

We have carpool arrangement for Zaria, so Daddy sends 3 mornings a week, and I pick up 2 afternoon a week. The rest, my neighbor handles.

With Zara, unlike last year, there’s no carpool arrangement. I do the sending and picking up myself.

Extra-classes and Tutoring.
The girls have a couple of activities and classes lined up for them.

Zaria – Swimming, Art & Craft, Mandarin, Yamaha,

Zara – Swimming, Art & Craft, Mandarin, Piano, Speech & Drama, English, Bahasa Malaysia.

Besides Swimming and Art & Craft where the girls attend together; and Bahasa Malaysia where the tutor comes to the house; the rest are different classes, different timing and guess who has to do the chauffeuring?

How many trips in and out do I have to make? And I wonder how come the mother ends up doing all the driving even though she has to work too!

Maidless
Jelly has left for good on Sunday, after working with us for 5yrs.

Kind of miss the ‘piling-palang’ noise she made at home, and her loud bossy voice. She’s actually an OK helper, just stubborn and have an attitude. Trustworthy and no-nonsense is her plus points.

Our replacement was supposed to arrive a day after Jelly left. But just like all the con-artist Agents who over commit and under deliver, the paper work was not completed on time, and God knows when it’ll be done and the new helper will arrive.

We’re estimating 2 to 3 weeks maidless period. Zaria is now sent to my MIL’s place after school (take a wild guess who sends here there and who picks her up?), just so all the little ‘unplanned’ demands she has will not interrupt my work schedule or meetings.

So here is the work from home mum with a full time job, who’s also a full time driver, and now a full time maid all roll into one. I’m so not going to be born as a female next life!

And who says I’m so lucky to be able to work from home?

The videos that I shared in my previous posts were all from Experts who shared their opinions on sugar in Growing Up Milk (GUMP). I watched a couple of them when I was waiting in Mediklinik TTDI Jaya via the Queue Channel.

Thanks to technology, we can find all the related videos on youtube as well.

These videos are mainly trying to educate us as consumers on added sugars in GUMP, and asked us to make informed decision when it comes to choosing the right GUMP for our kids. You should definitely take a look at these if you are interested in doing what is right for your children when choosing their GUMP.

Here is a print ad from MOH (Ministry of Health) that was in the papers which also talked about similar points mentioned in the video.

Two very interesting points that I picked up from this MOH print ad are:

As per Malaysian labeling guidelines, all sugars are declared as part of carbohydrate, which includes sugar, sugar-rich ingredients and digestible glucose chains (e.g. sucrose, corn syrup, glucose syrup and maltodextrin) – all declared as “Carbohydrate’ in the Nutrition Information Penal)

1) Added sugars can have many different names. Corn syrup solids, glucose syrup solids and sucrose are all added sugars.

2) Be aware that products claiming “no added sucrose” or “sucrose free” could still contain other types of added sugars.

Not to offend any brands of GUMP, but now, when you next pick up a pack of GUMP, be informed that even the MOH says that corn syrup solids, sucrose and glucose syrup solids are added sugars. What does this mean for some of the GUMPS that have made certain claims about their formulations?

MOH also says ‘no sucrose’ doesn’t necessary mean ‘no added sugars’. What does this mean for certain GUMP that has this claim on their packaging?

So far in the market as far as I can tell, Anmum Essential is the only growing up milk powder that really has no added sugars.

Do make informed decision on your next purchase of GUMP.

Teacher Florence is not my teacher, but the girls’.

I was planning to send the girls for art & craft class, and after seeing a couple of places and not quite happy with what they were offering, I thought of Florence, my ex classmate whom I’d not met for 20years; she was very good at art during school days, and currently teaches art class at the Japanese Cultural Centre. After several SMSes and phone calls later, Florence agreed to teach the girls at her place.

The girls enjoy her class because besides doing art and craft, Teacher Florence jokes with them and plays with them. And while the girls are working (on their pieces), Florence and I catch up, there’s 20yrs events to fill up, considering we were very close in school (don’t ask me why we didn’t bother to meet up all these years, I guess we always thought a meeting could wait).

It’s been 2 months since they started with Teacher Florence. Recently, I was considering switching them to a centre near by (As Teacher Florence is 30mins drive away from my place). Zara said, “Nope. I want to attend Teacher Florence’ class only.” When I asked her to give me a reason. She said, “Teacher Florence is your friend. Sometimes we say funny things or do funny things with her. We offered her milk shake with sequin the other day, and she laughed at our jokes. If you go to a centre and the teacher is not your friend then what will happen? She will say we’re crazy or ask us to just sit down!” o.O”

So Teacher Florence it is. They can enjoy their class and jokes, while I can continue to catch up and exchange recipes with her.

And these are the things they created in Teacher Florence’ class.

After a few classes, we could see a trend in the girls. Zara prefer something simple, while Zaria likes all the blink blink, sparkles and fancy stuff.

Zara’s no-nonsence paper doll and her clothes.

Zaria’s gypsy girl paper doll and her clothes.

Check out the make up on the doll!

And this was done last week, which I like very much!

In line with the last 2 drawings… here is to wish all of you a Happy Chinese New Year!