Mothering Corner

I don’t have much to say about the education system in Malaysia especially in Chinese school) because my kids won’t be studying here. On top of that, I was Chinese educated, from primary to high school, so I have a rough idea how life is at a Chinese school. It’s competitive, and there’s always a lot of homework. No matter what, the amount of pressure and homework have escalated as comparing to my time, and young kids these days face a tougher challenge studying in Chinese school.

However, most parents will still prefer to send their kids to Chinese school, if they are Chinese. The standard is higher, and most believe that it gives a good start to the kids. I don’t have much complain about that because if my kids are here, I would probably send them to Chinese schools as well. But I really hate to see the amount of books in their bags. My niece and nephew study in Chinese school, and they have to use trolley bags. It’s impossible for kids to carry a heavy load like that, 5 days a week, and some might have to climb up the stairs. Not a lot of schools have lifts here ok?

Some schools have Lockers, from what I’ve heard. But some kids might forget to bring home their homework or books for revision. But still, I prefer kids to have School Lockers.

My kids have theirs in their school. Not that it’s a real locker as you can’t lock it. But they are assigned to racks where they place their books, milk, or even shoes outside the classroom. The older kids have Gym Lockers for their extra curriculum of swimming or sports, so it’s pretty convenient for all.

So now you know why I hardly buy school bags for my kids. The bags can last them at least 2 years. Most of the time, it’s quite EMPTY!

My gal still comes to my bed in the middle of the night for comfort. She won’t do this every night, but only when she’s awakes from bad dream, or wet her trainer pants. She’s not only looking for me, but for hubby as well! She likes to sleep between us, and requests hubby to wrap his arm around her. I guess it makes her feel more secure to fall back to sleep again.

Nonetheless, she moves and kicks a lot in her sleep, thus my sleep is mostly interrupted when she climbs in with us. We are not using one of those memory foam mattresses, and I might have lied side way at the side of the bed to avoid her from kicking me! After some time, my back hurts, but I can’t get to a comfortable sleeping position due to limited space.

Some times, I would just go to her bed, if I manage to walk myself there. LOL! I wonder when will she quit doing this? It took my boy some time to get over it and sleep through on his own too. That’s why I’m reluctant to remove her from training pants. If she wets herself, it’s even more work for us, and I can’t imagine how many latex foam toppers and bedsheets I need to wash in a week?

So, the best thing to do is sleep in early so that I can get enough rest and pray that she sleeps through by herself too.

Ever since my gal started ballet a few weeks ago, I couldn’t stop myself from shopping for more leotards and tutus. So far, she has 3 sets now, and she only wears them once a week. LOL!

That’s the thing about having a gal, I tend to shop more for her. My boy is not that into clothing and shoes, in fact, he only survives with a single pair of Crocs, his shoe shoes, some of his favorite jeans and tees, and that’s all. Maybe he gets it from hubby, who doesn’t like to dress up either.

I’m so glad that I have my gal, who’s equally vain as me. If it’s not due to the limited storage space in my house, I would buy her more clothes and shoes. She’s a shoe fetish too. LOL!

Too bad I didn’t get her a lot of baby halloween costumes because Halloween is not popular in Malaysia. I wonder if they will have a party at their school here? I know exactly what to buy for her!

I wonder if I should get Mattress topper for my gal’s bed, if I would to buy her a new memory foam mattress? Frankly, my 4-year-old is still on training pants because she might wet the bed in the sleep some times. Unlike her brother who is diaper free before 3, she doesn’t wake up for the toilet if she is really asleep. After numerous accidents, both hubby and I got tired of cleaning up the mess, and that explained why she is still on training pants at night.

It sounds like we are sorting it the easy way out, but my gal sleeps better this way. When she wet the bed, she had interrupted sleep due to changing and cleaning, and she was very moody in the morning. That’s the last thing we want on a busy morning, when everyone is rushing for school or go to work!

Right now, I’m using a mattress pad, but maybe I really need mattress protector or mattress topper too. Let’s see how I can work on the budget first!

Hubby has finally agreed on training the kids to sleep in their room once again, but this plan has not been carried out. Why? It’s because the father is still reluctant to push the kids out of the room. Sigh…

I’d almost set up their foam mattresses the other day, and talked to the kids about sleeping on their own again. But once the father came home, he played with the kids until they totally dozed off on the extra foam mattresses placed in my room!

I will keep on working on this, and hopefully, I can have my room back soon. It has turned into another playroom, with lots of children books and toys, being placed all over my rack. LOL! Besides that, I don’t mind buying new beds for them, especially those that come in fancy designs, to make their bedroom more attractive. I’m still thinking if memory foam mattresses are necessary though.

My boy used to wake up at 5am when he was a baby, but he went back for nap at 7am plus. My MIL was kind enough to take care of him for me so that I could catch more sleep. My boy has never slept through before he was 3! His night feeding was every 2 or 3 hours, even after he started solid. Oh boy…

My gal is a better sleeper, but she needed a lot of comfort nursing. I was her pacifier, as long as she could manage to suckle, she would doze off to dreamland. I know that this habit is bad, but mommy was too tired to get up and doze her back to sleep. Unlike westerners, most Asian babies are not left sleeping in separate rooms. Again, I guess I’ve spoiled my babies.

After we moved here, I trained them to sleep in their room. At first, I used a night light for them, but hubby complained that it’s bad for their eyes. Forget about turning off the Kichler lighting outside their room as our kids might wake up in the middle of the night and come looking for us. It took me a few months to train them to sleep on their own successfully, then hubby broke the rules. He was away often so whenever he’s not around, the kids would sleep in my room. But when he’s back, he refused to send the kids out and preferred to tug in with them. I know that he misses them a lot, and wants to spend as much time as possible with them, but this didn’t help in getting the kids to sleep independently.

No doubt, both kids are back to sleeping in my room again! Argh…Hubby doesn’t seem to be bothered by our kids who can’t sleep on their own. He even said it’s best that they sleep with us as kids grow up very fast, they will be out of the house before we know it. O.o

I’ve just realized that it’s my nephew’s birthday today, and he’s going to be 9 years old. I am quite lousy at remembering dates, and I found out his birthday from Facebook. We are going to see him later as his family are here for the summer holiday.

I thought of fixing him something with the kids, but we don’t have flour for cakes, nor anything fancy for bentos! Then, my boy suggested Ribena popsicles. LOL! That’s quite a good idea from a 5-year-old, and it’s very easy to be prepared.

Maybe our nephew will feel “childish” with his “birthday present”, but that’s what my kids want to do. Oh well, I’ll probably get him another present later if we have time to go to the mall. Frankly, I don’t know what to buy for him, he has almost every cool toy and gadgets, and he’s too young for testosterone cream and he is not into kids fashion.

Some mothers thought that my kids are not picky with food, oh how I wish! They are very picky with veggie, and the only green vegetable which they like is broccoli. I have to modify the way I cook the greens so that they are willing to have some at meals. My boy loves veggie soup, and it’s quite easy to be prepared. As for my gal, she sticks to blanched broccoli and carrots.

I hope that they will love greens more, so I’ve always told them they veggies are great for their skin and health. Hubby will joke that if they don’t take as much greens as he did last time, they will end up having ugly complexion like daddy’s. LOL! Even the best acne cleanser can’t help during teenage years.

Too bad that this advice only works once in a while. So, I’m still working on encouraging my kids to love eating greens!

It’s a Chinese custom to give out angpao money to young children, or elderly during Chinese New Year. My kids love the angpaos, especially since there is money in it! Normally, I will take out the money and let the kids keep the red packets for fun. I’ll get hubby to bank in the money back home, in my boy’s account, when he’s going back this weekend. We let the kids share one account so far, and haven’t got one for my gal. I know it sounds unfair, but we will get this done in the future. If I manage to get a work permit here, after taking over hubby’s company, I will try to get an account for her in Bangkok. So far, I can’t get my own account here either.

I guess we will bank in the equal amount of money into her account, just like her brother’s. By doing so every year, the kids might have quite a lot of money by the time they are 18 years old. Then, they can decide on what they want to do with the money. Hopefully, my boy won’t spend all on Ferrari parts and my gal won’t spend all on design brands.

My kids are picky with veggies, especially my gal. She only likes broccoli, carrot, and spinach, so if I cook other veggies, she will give me tonnes of excuses not to take them. I’ve tried these tips suggested, but they don’t always work. LOL!

So, these days, I will just tell her that, if you want to have pretty skin as nice as Snow White, you better take your veggies. If not, you might have to figure out how to treat acne if you have an outbreak next time because your daddy has problematic skin and you might inherit that from him.