My Two Girls – All About Zara and Zaria

Taken 3rd of Feb 2009 @ 2yrs 2months.

This girl is so independant she doesn’t want to be helped to get up the toilet bowl. If we offered our help, she’ll say, “No. I do myself.”

Looks dangerous right? She started doing this when she turned 2yrs +, at the first few climbs, she peed facing in, it was later that she was able to adjust herself to face out. And… she had 1 accident where her foot landed in the bowl while trying to turn herself.. luckily she didn’t get hurt and there was no stool in the bowl. o.O”

Zara’s current favourite pastime besides watching the TV is drawing. Give her a piece of paper, some colours (pencil, markers, crayons, doesn’t matter) and she’ll be busy drawing. It seems she’s not picky with where she draws, sometimes she just draws on scraps of crumply paper.

At first, it was simple lines, and then the stick man appeared; later, she started adding the hair, hands, the dress, and even designs on the dress. She likes drawing girls, flowers, butterflies; and her favourite shape is heart shape.

Here are a few of her drawings.

Done before the year end school holidays. She calls this Picasso. This was when she started drawing flowers.

Done during the school holidays. Seems like it’s flowers in a vase.

Done beginning of the year. She started ‘signing’ her name with a heart shape nearby

Done during Chinese New Year. She started drawing designs on dresses, and flowers are now always in a pot.

Done after Chinese New Year. More things are added to show a scene. Mountains, houses, trees and butterflies.

Potentially, besides being a lawyer, she can consider being an artist too

I so love the way the girls talk these days, so don’t mind me doing post after post of their conversations.

We were meeting my extended family for dinner. On our way, Daddy turned into a petrol station to fill up, and right there is a KFC. Zara asked, “Why are you stopping? I want to go to the restaurant now.”
Knowing she couldn’t wait to meet her cousins, Daddy teased Zara, “I think we’ll just have KFC for dinner today.”
Zara replied, “If you eat KFC, you are not having proper dinner, you are just eating FAT.” o.O”
(on other days she would have happily accepted the offer)

On our way home from school, Zara as usual asked, “What are we having for lunch?” I told her we’re having spagetti and cheese which is her favourite. She replied happily, “Yummy! Now my eyes will lit up like stars.”

One day, when we were talking about big houses and cars and why we don’t have them.
She told me, “We are not rich, you know why? You are not working enough. Got holiday, you want to do your own things or go holiday and you don’t work. And you don’t work long enough.” o.O”
(Of course I later told her we don’t work long hours because we want to spend time with both of them, and if she preferred us to live in big house and drive big cars but then never get to see us around except during bed time. She replied, “It’s ok we’re not very rich, because I want you to spend time with me.”)

Zara attempting to tickle Zaria’s neck, but it was a bit like strangling her, and Zaria was getting upset.
Me told her stenrly, “Stop bullying your meimei.”
Zara replied, “This is not bullying, this is irritating. OK?” o.O

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I was helping Zara with homework (and I must admit I’m very impatient). When I paused to ask Zara what she was writing (which was 九 or 9), she would count from the start of the page in Chinese (each page 1 number), but missed a few pages, so when it got to 9, she would say a number smaller than 9. This happened a few times, so I got really annoyed, and started holding her finger and point to the numbers while she counted. I exerted a little more force on her finger when we pointed a number, so she started crying. She calmed down after I apologised and finished her homework.

When we got to the living room, Jelly said this conversation took place between Zaria and her.
“Aunty, why jiejie crying?”
“Because jiejie don’t know how to count.”
“I know how to count you know. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10”

I smiled and asked Zaria, “So next time when mummy help you with homework, willl you make mummy upset?”
She replied, “Noooo, I will make mummy happy. Becossssss, I know how to count!”

Girls current favourite ‘adult’ show is Mama Mia. They have been singing the songs from the movie frequently but every time when I took the camera out, they’ll all go quiet.

Yesterday, Zaria found her ‘microphone’ (an ear probe from her doctor set), and she said, “Like the auntie’s hairdryer.” (referring to the character Tanya using the hairdryer as a microphone in Mama Mia). After that, she sang Dancing Queen on and on.

Here is her singing at 2yrs 2.5months. (She said, “You can sing.” instead of “You can dance.” at the beginning)

After she has gone to sleep, I replayed the video from the camera in the room with the volume turned on, suddently, she lifted her head from her sleep and said, “That’s me.” and then laid back down and slept.

Both Daddy and I went o.O”.

Zaria is asking a lot of Why nowadays. Her sentences most of the time starts with Why. She also likes to add, “You know.” in her speech; e.g. “Jiejie also want you know.”. Another favourite phrases she likes to use is “or not?” e.g. “Can or not?” and “You know or not?” .

Here are some of her recent chatters:

She was getting ready for school (by Jelly), and I was still lying on the bed.
She asked Jelly, “Why mummy so lazy?” o.O

She came back from school with a party pack, and asked me, “Why mummy got monster?” I didn’t get it until she showed me the Mamee noodle pack in her party pack.

She cried when her teacher helped carry her to the car. I asked her later when we got home, “You don’t like teacher Doreen?
Zaria replied, “I like wut.” (The ‘wut’ is another word she likes to use)
I asked again, “Then why you cried when she carried you today?”
She replied, “Becaussssssssssse (as though thinking of the right answer), only mummy can carry me”

Zaria was with me, when I was flipping the newspaper. I showed her a Bridal House advertisement.
Me : See.. uncle and auntie getting married
Zaria : Why they get married?
Me : Because they love each other, so they get married. Mummy love you too you know?
Zaria : You getting married with me?
Me : Mummy not boy, cannot get married with you.
Zaria : Daddy married me? o.O”

Over the long weekend we went to Genting Highlands with my extended family. 14 of us took up 6 rooms (compliments from my sister’s company) in the Theme Park Hotel. We were all put on the same floor, next to or across each other, making the small room less crowded since the girls could run across to their cousin’s room etc.

The main reason we were in Genting was really for the theme park, it’s more of a trip for the 7 children in the family (although 2 of them already needed Adult passes to get into the park, they are still ‘children’ in the family).

We spent the day time at the Outdoor Park and the night time at the Indoor Park on the first day. The place was pretty crowded, so it was a 10 to 30 mins wait time for each ride. While the older children went on the thrill rides with Daddy joining them on a few, I was with the girls, Tasha and my sister going for the kiddy rides. Let the photos show you the fun the girls and their cousins had.

Sam and Ally seen on The Spinner

The Spinner spinning

Of course for Zara, Zaria and Tasha, a lot of time was spent on the Merry-Go-Rounds.

And Ferris Wheel.

Zara loved this Rodeo Rider so much, I think she’s going to grow up to be able to take thrill rides, unlike her mummy who used to vomit even after a ride on the Merry-Go-Round.

Girls loved the Children Play Ground, especially the monkey bar.

There were some street performances which we caught. Girls were facinated but at the same time afraid of the Fire Eater.

Zaria kept asking me, “Why the uncle eat fire?”
I took the opportunity to educate tell her, “Uncle didn’t want to ear dinner, that’s why eat fire. You? You want to eat fire or you want to eat dinner?”
Of course she said, “I want to eat dinner only.”

Zaria had to be proped up on my shoulder to reach for the clown on stlit. She wasn’t scared of him nor liked him.

A female clown playing ‘yo-yo’ (definitely didn’t look as scarry as the male clowns).

After all the excitement, Zaria had some stories to tell.

And the girls have jokes to share.

On outings like these, we can’t do without cotton candy, and my sis got herself Tasha 3 of these in the 2 days we were there.

Thank God for family and the maid.. When the girls are tired, we took turns to carry them.

And what did my dad do when we were at the theme park? He Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz-ed on the bench waiting for us.

(Updated after some some exchange of messages with Michelle to prevent misunderstanding)

I’m no saint, and I do not pretend to be one. I always believe in the Chinese saying 慈母多败儿 (which translate more or less to “A mum who spoils the kids will end up with rotten kids”). Depending on the girls’ level of naughtiness, I use different types of method to discipline them.

Verbal warning/threats :
I guess this is the most common way of us disciplining our kids. From “You don’t get to go kai-kai.” to “I’ll send you to naughty school” (learnt from Mom2Ashley).

Zaria being very fond of me, most of the time will listen when I say, “You don’t listen you make mummy very upset.” and if this doesn’t work, I’ll warn her with, “I won’t sayang (Malay : showing physical affection) you if you naughty.” This will definitely do the trick. (Note : Sayang here is not the same as ‘love’, sayang is a hug or a kiss. I never tell the girls I’ll love them less if they don’t do certain things.)

As for Zara, I have been drilling into her how lucky she is to have mummy working from home, who can sooth her when she needs it, who can pick her up from school, who gives her hugs as and when she wants. So the most fearful threat for her is, “If you continue with this behaviour, I’ll go back to work in the office, then you won’t see mummy until late at night. And also you’ll have to take the school bus to school.”

Punishment :
I don’t own a cane but I do smack the kids or use my finger to ‘flick’ them in the below situation :
1) Repeatedly tell them not to touch something (maybe because it’s fragile or dangerous), but they still do it and end up breaking that item or causing hurt to someone – they’ll get a smack or a flick on the palm
2) Spiting saliva at another person – they’ll get a flick on the cheek.
3) Purposely causing a lot of pain to the sibling (e.g. scratching the other until it bleeds or pulling a clump of hair from the sibling’s scalp) – they’ll get a smack on the buttocks.

Naughty corner :
This is the most common form of punishment the girls get. Sometimes when Zara pushed Zaria because she wanted to snatch something from Zaria, she’ll come up to me and make a confession, and come out with her own punishment, “I pushed mei-mei just now, so I stand in the naughty corner for 5 mins, ok?”

On days when they really drive me up the walls by being extremely naughty, e.g. fighting and to retaliate breaking each other’s things, I’ll issue the capital punishment. Cheng Cheng Cheng.. and it’s….
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“No reading tonight! Both of you go straight to bed after you brush your teeth!!” (they love reading so much, they get really upset when there’s no bed time reading).

How do you discipline your kids? Do you believe in smacking?

This chili padi (Malay : Birds-eye chili, i.e. small but ‘potent’) is growing up to be her sister’s equal.

She likes to say, “Aiyo.” like an old lady, when we ask her to do things she doesn’t want to.
She likes to answer us “Ohh.” thoughtfully, when we explain something to her.

She pronounces the blending sound starting with S, i.e. SM, SN, SP, SW without the S sound. I.e. Small sounds like “Mall”; Sweet sounds like “Weet”; “Plash” (splash); “Wim” (swim); “Neck” (snake) etc.

She can say her name perfectly now, emphasising the 3 syllables “Zah-Ree-Ah”.

She doesn’t want anybody to help her adjust the hairband, to her, this is the right way to wear it

Nowadays, when she sees something she likes, regardless if it belongs to her, she’ll say protectively, “It’s mine!” when anybody tries to claim it or touch it. At times, even using force by pushing away the approaching owner. *sigh*

Every day when I finish work and declare by shouting, “DING DONG!”, I’ll hear loud cheers from the girls and both will be waiting for me down stairs. Zaria will come forward and ask her daily question, “You finish(ed) work oh-di (already)? Now we go park?”

Zaria and her cheeky smile

More things she says:

When we take off our clothes to go for our shower, she’ll always comment, “Why you so shamey (shameful)? You want to take bath?”

Once she fought with Zara (it’s becoming so comon, I won’t loose sleep over it), I told her, “Don’t fight with jiejie, she’s your best friend you know?”
She replied, “Jiejie not my best friend, Goofy is my best friend.” (thanks to Disneyland).

She asks me frequently, “Mummy (you) love me?” When I say I do, she’ll go on and say, “I love you, mummy.” sweeeeeet….

Once at the play ground, I was standing on a path which happens to be crawling with red ants, Zaria pulled me aside and said, “Mummy, don’t go there ya. Got lots lots (of) ants there. Come here.”

On Feb 1st, she had high fever middle of the night just out of the sudden, and I had to sponge her, she woke up, groggily smiled and said, “So ticklish. Hee hee.. “ o.O”

In a restaurant, she wanted to lie on my lap, but I was siting so close to the table. She knocked her head while lying down, and she shouted, “Ouch!! Give me some space!” o.O”

One evening, Zara did some drawing making used of Zaria’s pencil.
Zaria : “Give me back. It’s mine!”
Zara : “Let jiejie use, jiejie borrow from you.”
Zaria : “You dee-den (didn’t) borrow, you take only!” o.O”

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Her own version of face painting, done by herself using markers

This girl at 25months, is totally off diaper (except night time to prevent accidents, but most of the time the diaper is dry and re-used for 3~4 nights before I toss it away).

She walks up and down the stairs on her own.

She drags the stepping stool to the sink to wash her hands, pushes the (covered) rubbish bin to her chest of drawers (as a stepping stool) to reach for her things up on the cupboard.

She plays her own DVD : gets her own preferred program from the DVD folder, turns on the switches of the DVD player and TV; puts in the disc, and hits play on her own.
When she’s done, she’ll reverse all the above (hits stop, takes out disc, turns off the switches, puts the disc back into the folder).

She knows how to put on her shoes (those with velcro or crocs) and removes them.

And her latest achievement, pulling down her own pants, climbing up the toilet bowl (both girls never used potty and went straight from diaper to adult toilet bowl) herself to pee and poo on her own, telling us only when she’s done. The first time she did that, I didn’t believe her, as she’s too short to pull herself up the seat. But she showed me how she did it, quite a feat for such a small girl.

This year, from buying biscuits, decorating the house to planning and shopping for the re-union dinner was all done by me because Daddy was away 1 week after the other, and when he was around during the weekend, he spent time kay-poh-ying (Chinese : busy body) at his sister’s new place instead. Grrr…

I was also a bit unhappy that the Chinese teacher in Zara’s school taught her to say, “恭喜发财,红包拿来” (Gong Xi Fa Cai, Give me the Ang Pow), instead of a proper greeting. Although it was meant to be ‘funny’, but the girls took it as a proper greeting. Grrr…

Just ranting a bit to get it out of my system.

Although I very much would like to join my side of the family for the big re-union dinner they were having (all my 3 siblings and their family were dining at my sister’s place), I had to fulfil my obligations as a DIL. This is the 2nd year we have re-union dinner at our place instead of MIL’s, and we have steamboat again. Next year maybe we should change the menu because all the girls had was just fish balls, nothing else. They didn’t even bother to try the RM90/Kg Sou-Mei (苏眉) fish (btw, it wasn’t worth the money as it’s really not that delicious) nor the big prawns.

Girls were very excited to play with the sparklers after dinner. Zaria not knowing the danger, kept trying to point the sparkler at herself so she could ‘see’ the sparks better, luckily we could stop her in time. *phew*

When I asked Zara at night, “During Chinese New Year, what will people give you?”
Her reply was, “Mandarins! A lot of mandarins.” She actually forgot she will be getting ang pows since she still has no concept of money, and she loves mandarins.

On Chinese New Year’s day, as usual we visited my MIL first before going over to my brother’s place where the whole family met. This year, the girls cousin wore the same clothes. I bought 2 sets of similar cheong sam from my Beijing work trip last May for the girls and their cousins. Zara’s and Sam’s are the same, Zaria’s and Tasha’s are the same. I didn’t get any for Ally as they didn’t have her size.

The girls were so happy to see their cousins wearing the same dress as them.

Love this shot

Everybody looks so happy to be ‘twins’

After a simple lunch, we carried out our yearly tea ceremony to get the big ang pow from my dad.

Zaria serving tea to Ah Gong, my dad.

And then we visited my 90 year old grandfather in Kajang. No photo of my strong grandfather, since we forgot to take the camera down.

At night I got Zara to help me open up her ang pows. Firstly, of course was to open ours, and she took out 2 RM50 notes. The next ang pow she opened, there was one RM50 note and she said, “This one only one dollar.” o.O

When I asked Zara again at night, “So do you know now what people give you during Chinese New Year?”
She of course replied, “Ang Pow!”
Zaria chipped in, “Biscuits!” (the part she likes about Chinese New Year).

Happy New Year and 恭喜发财 Every One!
Hope you have lots of Ang Pows, Mandarins and Biscuits!

**Sold as of 3 Feb ’09**

I’m very sure I’ll not have No.3, so I’m trying to sell of some of the things the girls used to use. This one is Zara’s cot.

It’s white Safe N Sound Cot which can be used up to 6 yrs old. We bought this end 2004, it was used by Zara for 1.5yrs, and then stored up. Later, since Zaria is sleeping with us 100% since birth, it was used mainly to change her after her bath and to ‘confine’ her when Jelly needed to clean up the room (for 1yr).

The cot fits a mattress size of 70x132cm.

I’m selling this for RM300, this price includes :
1) the cot (2 levels height for mattress, single hand to lower side railing)
2) 1 x Safe N Sound latex mattress (it’s the standard Safe N Sound perforated mattress to prevent SID)
3) 1 x Safe N Sound latex pillow
3) 2 x bed sheets that I have for the mattress (light blue + white)
4) 2 x Lollipop Hey Diddle Diddle cot bumpers (brand new, they’ll ‘surround’ the entire cot)
5) 1 x Lollipop Hey Diddle Diddel pillow case (which will fit the latex pillow)
6) 1 x Lollipop white with yellow trimming pillow case (which will fit the latext pillow)

Condition of the cot : There are only some finger print smudges on the railing (where her name is stuck on) b’cos Zaria drew on her hands, and then held on to the railing trying to peel of the alphabets forming her name).

Condition of the mattress : Some light stain.

You can also see here how the cot was used :

By Zaria – to confine her (the blue and white bed sheets seen here will be part of the deal)

By Zara – to sleep (1 railing was removed so that it could be parked next to our bed)

e-mail me at zarasmama@gmail.com if you are interested