Grin MaMa BLueS

2011-09-06T14:37:00.002+08:00

We have moved!

Wong Loong Reunion - 23.10.2010

2010-01-18T03:26:00.007+08:00

Dear relatives,
Would like to announce that the Wong Loong Association has decided that our 5th reunion will be held on the 23rd October 2010. Mark your date!! See you there

p/s that means I am bogged down with updating the family tree again.. tee hee hee... do email me at celine(at)wongloong(dot)net. Thanks.

Sorry dear readers that this blog has not been updated lately. Just for your info, we are doing well, fulltime homeschooling with the two boys (not that it's new to us). Too many things to do, too little time to blog. Sigh! Really juggling with time.

While my in-laws think that I spoil my boys, I told them that it is very rare to have polite kids nowadays. :) The boys can be so irritatingly cheeky, yet "Please & Thank you"s are always generous from them. Yes, even my mumbling baby C.

Heart you guys & Happy New Year!

Cuti-cuti Sabah: To Garama Wetlands

2009-08-23T23:51:00.000+08:00

To those who are not sure about this place, it is in Klias Beaufort, about 2 hour drive down south from Kota Kinabalu. Since we were passing Membakut, we dropped by at my parents' house for tea and continued our journey to Klias for the river cruise.

Arrived Kampung Garama at 4pm. While parking our car, we saw families of macaques along the roadside.

How many monkeys can you see?

The thinker

More thinking (diff one.. can you see their diff faces?)

The dentist

Tunggang terbalik? (upside down or downside up?)

Maternal Love

Reminds me of Josh Holloway (Sawyer in Lost) in Davidoff Cool Water ad.. LOL!

So much for the roadside photoshoot, we walked along a very long boardwalk passing through palm oil plantation to our destination, the jetty.

and off we go.. through the stream.. to

Garama River in Klias

I was quite dissapointed with this trip as after 30minutes (or so) of cruising the river, we hardly see any Proboscis/Orang Utan (hmm.. maybe my expectation was like in Sukau). In fact SIL was quite upset as the previous visit in 2005, she said there were more PMs around compared to this trip.

Nyata ada gaya, mutu, keunggulan! We needed special eyes to spot the animals, they were too far away to be seen. Smart BIL used his 300mm lense for this pix..

A female proboscis.. see it's nose!

I wanna see too, Mama!

The cuz

Looking for more monkeys. Baby C became more comfortable being in the boat!

Beautiful sunset. At this time, the speed of the river water was fast, rushing to the tidals sea.

Water Buffaloes - going back to it's master

Going back to the restaurant for dinner, then another 'short' cruise to look for fireflies.

At night along river banks in the Malaysian jungles (most notably found near Kuala Selangor), fireflies ("kelip-kelip" in the Malay language or Bahasa Malaysia) synchronise their light emissions precisely. Current hypotheses about the causes of this behavior involve diet, social interaction, and altitude. [source]

Despite feeling quite dissapointed with this trip, I enjoyed the firefly experience the most! It was a very beautiful sight as the fireflies flock together and decorating the mangrove trees! It is said that the Malaysian species is the only one that flock together by thousand and make trees glitter like a christmas tree deco [source]. Interesting huh?

We left the place around 8pm and headed back to KK...

Cuti-cuti Sabah: Manukan Island

2009-08-22T00:14:00.001+08:00

To Manukan... another boat ride for the kids, by now they are so use it already!

Hello you!

Not so-clear blue sea

"Life as a kite"

At the jetty, looking at a Merman! NOT!

Just Felyx koko

A giant octopus!

Shortie!

Clean our beach!

Very dissapointing - the beach was disgustingly dirty! It was so disturbing to see plastics drifted to the shore and the workers whom were responsible to clean the beach didnt even bother to pick the rubbish out from the water!! Thanks to our Miss Environment, took the liberty to take the rubbish out from the water.. Thanks Rikki!

Ditto baby too! But he chose seaweed instead.. haha

Cuti-cuti Sabah: Gomantong Cave / Sandakan Town

2009-08-21T21:53:00.018+08:00

Gomantong Cave is in our itinerary, as it is located near Sukau.

The entrance of the Gomantong Cave. Can you spot Baby C & Mama?

Gomantong is the largest limestone hill and the most important source of edible birds nets in Sabah. Tourists visiting the cave during harvesting season can see local collectors dangle from the roof of the cave on ladders made of rattan and bamboo collecting the nests produced by the agile swiftlets. [source]

Unfortunately, we were 2 weeks early as the workers told us that the next harvesting date is on the 20th August this year. Despite that, we enjoyed exploring the more accessible Simud Hitam (Black Cave) which takes 5 minute to walk around the well-maintained boardwalk.

The railing of the boardwalk is covered with bird/bats droppings, and cockroaches are everywhere! You can see some ropes hanging from the ceiling of the cave, which is part of the tools used by the harvesters to climb up.

In the Simud Hitam, the roof is 90 metres above the floor of the cave, which is covered in guano that must be metres deep. Imagine if there's no boardwalk for us to step on, I think we could be drown, sinking into the guano pile. Eww! FYI, this pile is the home of thousand, or even millions of creepy crawlies esp cockroaches! So, if any of you are afraid of cockroaches, this experience may not be for you! *I witnessed two hysterical male ran out of the cave when they saw baby roaches welcomed them*

Dark and smelly, you can see Koko C put his two fingers into his nosril. There are trickles of water from the edge of the cave's ceiling down to where the patch of greenery is, made me admiring Mother Nature.

The rear of the Simud Hitam. Can you see the railings of the boardwalk stretched further.

I tried to distract Koko C's attention from the unpleasant smell and made it into an interesting expedition for us. By discussing what we saw and encouraging him to watch his step, he came out from the cave with high confidence and full of excitement (that he didnt slip, wasnt scared of cockroaches/dark and saw/hear lots of interesting things).

Since the 13th century, Chinese traders have come to Sandakan in search of birds' nests, a prized delicacy among the Chinese and found nearly 100 metres up on the ceilings of the Gomantong Caves. Harvesters put their lives on the line literally, climbing networks of rattan ladders and ropes to get to the nests. The risky nature of nest collecting has only helped made the commodity a pricey one.[source]

They are Chinese, but not the mentioned Chinese traders. or are they?

The main cave system is divided into two parts: the more accessible Simud Hitam (Black Cave), and the larger Simud Putih (White Cave) which lies above. The names refer to the main type of nests produced by swiftlets in each cave. Simud Putih (White Cave) is the larger of the two caves, and also the more dangerous; special permission is required to enter and one must participate in at least five hours of intense spelunking. It is where the more valuable "white saliva" nests of the swiftlets are found, and is a steep 30 minute climb further up the mountains. [source]

When nature calls!

a red langur monkey peed on BIL.... tee hee

----VV----

A cowboy town.. lol! What do you do when there's no Gas Station and you need one?

---v--v---

Done with caving, we headed up north to Sandakan town, where we stayed at Sandakan Hotel for a night.

We did more swimming, had superb seafood dinner (Thanks Suk Goong for arranging it) and had a good rest on a more comfy bed.

The next day, we had a wonderful seafood lunch (mind you, high cholestrol stuffs) and visited the 116year old St Michael's and All Angels' Church and the famous Agnes Keith House.

The construction of the first stone building in Sabah began in 1893 and took almost 30 years to complete; St Michael's and All Angel survived the WWII. The Church was also one of the many places where the Prisoners of War who trekked the Sandakan Death March spent a night before continuing the march.

Admiring the architecture of the building, as Baby C slept in my arms and Koko C was sleeping in the car. You should see the church's door stopper mechanism (too bad we didnt take a photo of it!)

The place that I have been longing to visit, the house of Agnes Keith who penned the Land Below the Wind (1939) book.

Macam rumah sendiri kan! lol! Welcome!! Jemput masuk!

As I entered her house, I actually had an eerie feeling about the whole place. Not only me, but most of us who were there; at the same time, I was admiring and imagining how it was living in the 1930's. Everything described in her book came alive! The ambience, the furniture and fittings.. and as if I could hear radio was playing the 1930s songs and saw Agnes herself was outside playing with George and the Upsie-daisy : their Orang Utan pet... Went upstairs, only Rikki could described my feelings... geesh! May not write too much here... having goosebumps right now.

Soon after the visit, we drove back to KK slowly, arrived home past midnight... I think after this trip, everyone seemed so tired and werent looking forward for what is in our next itinerary... So, instead of driving 3 hours up North, we decided to scrap the Kudat trip and instead we went to somewhere closer : the Mari-Mari Cultural Centre in Inanam & Manukan Island for a splash!

Cuti-cuti Sabah: Kinabatangan River / Sukau

2009-08-21T01:24:00.020+08:00

This is one trip that I anticipated the most, because I planned to bring my 15mo baby into the deep jungle and to cruise the longest river in Sabah, the Kinabatangan river.

At first I was not sure to tag baby along, I even planned to stay back with the boys in KK while the bunch go and enjoy themselves to be bitten by mosquitos and leech. SIL helped a lot with the decision making by getting 2 child-size life jackets for the boys. Phew!! That made me relieved.

So, Sukau... here we come! We started our journey by road, almost 6hours drive to Sukau. Thank God the kids slept during the journey.

Picked-up by the SRL boat to their premise.

Arrived at the Sukau Rainforest Lodge (SRL) at 3.30pm, we immediately geared up for the sunset river cruise, which is an hour ride in one of the smaller branch of the Kinabatangan river.

One thing I learnt throughout this trip, is to see through the jungle! That means we dont see only using our eyes, but with all our 5 senses. We listen to sound, we smell if there's any scent/odour (more like the animals' waste... eww).. errr.. I didnt use any of my taste buds this trip.. lol!

How many Proboscis monkey can you spot in this pix?

It was quite easy to spot the Proboscis Monkeys as they would stay in a group; either in a family or the all-male group; and most of the time these groups would be on trees at the river bank. Based on my observation, the family group consists of females and babies with their leader of the pact, a big-size male sitting quitely watching over his family. While the "all-male" group would be very loud and noisy. There was a scene I saw, where a few males were trying to woo a female from a family group, and the poor female was trying to run away from them, climbing higher from one tree to another.

Do you know that the Proboscis monkeys are found only in Borneo, the male has huge pendulous nose, fat beer belly and a long white tail. The male permenant erection simply enhances his bizzare appearance. The female has a smaller pointy nose, but is still bigger than any other monkeys.

Another name for it is Monyet Belanda. He does look like a man, dont you think? Click on the pix for closer view.

We saw a huge monitor lizard was climbing on a tree. Seeing this photo (in fact BIL shot many of it) gave me the goosebumps... I am not a fan of lizards.

A Macaque family monkeying around at the riverbank as if they were posing for the us. Again, I only choose this out of the rest. He looked very curious, as if trying to tell us something.

It was quite warm during this cruise, esp when the boat stopped for animal spotting / picture taking. Baby C was drained with his sweat and started to be cranky (He probably was bored, didnt understand why were we sitting in a boat and not doing much). As you can see, he needed to be pacified most of the time.

We spotted a bearded pig, this made my day because it is one of my "must-see list" in this trip. It has a prominent beard on its snout. I wonder why the Lok Kawi Wildlife Park dont have this animal.

This pig's mouth looked as if its bleeding.

We also spotted a wild orang utan, isolated himself behind tree leaves eating some fruits.

All of us enjoyed the Sunset River Cruise, and it was time for dinner. So we went back to our rooms to clean up and get ready for dinner.

No, we are not the Sarong Party Girls! hahaha. The SRL encouraged us to wear sarungs for dinner. :) And dinner was served at the Melapi restaurant, at the Jetty area.

DH & the gang decided to go for the Night River Cruise, which cruises along the main Kinabatangan River. PIL, Baby C and myself stayed at the Lodge.. sigh! I was suprised that Koko C was excited to go, knowing that he was already whining about the heat and sweat during the earlier cruise. The cruise started at 8pm, and they came back around 10.30pm; where by then, Koko C was already knocked out during the boat ride.

The nocturnal animals

Who? Who? Who? It's the Buffy Fish Owl

Kingfisher

do you see what I see (hint eyes)? I wished I saw this earlier during cruise. It is in one of my "must-see list" too. Too bad!

BIL captured many others' photos but they are way too many for me to upload.

Awooooooo!!! Remind me of Thriller by MJ.

And again, the next morning before the sunrise, as early as 5.30am; they headed to another side of the main river for Sunrise Cruise. yeah, the 2 boys and myself were still snoring when they left...

Sunrise at the wetlands

Is this a purple heron?

a wild Hornbill - is it a male?

Engret looking for breakfast!

Breakfast at the Jetty restaurant, while waiting for them to come back. And continued for the Hornbill Boardwalk at 9.30am. During breakfast, I heard some of the patrons claimed that they saw elephants a day earlier, which I actually prayed to see one!! that was my #1 in my MS list!!! ahh.. too bad!

You can read more info about the Sukau Rainforest Lodge and check their facilities/tour packages at their website. Meals are inclusive, and though the rooms are quite tight (obviously not very suitable for families with young children), I just love the place! Too bad, with a clingy baby with me, I cant do much but stay at the lounge area most of the time. I missed the Hornbill Boardwalk (thanks to the "cant-stay-put" Baby C), where a knowledgeable tour guide brought us them around the 1500ft walk, explaining about survival in the jungle and how to use/know the flora & fauna around us.. its like being in one of the National Geography documentary... the Survival Borneo Man!

I will definitely visit this place again, and next trip will be more adventurers..

We left the place by noon, and headed to Gomantong caves....and to Sandakan town to stay for another night. Next!

Cuti-cuti Sabah: Going into the mangrove P1

2009-08-15T13:32:00.000+08:00

This is my second time visited the KK City Bird Sanctuary in Likas. The first time was 4 years ago, also during SIL's visit to KK. Nothing much has changed, which is good; apart from some buildings deteriorated and closed down. DH & myself always apreciate this pleasant 1.5km boardwalk around the mangrove forest, while experiencing the ecosystem up close.

The Bird Sanctuary that remains is an important refuge and feeding ground for many species of resident birds, as well as several migratory bird species from Northern Asia. The Kota Kinabalu Bird Sanctuary in Malaysia also acts as a breeding ground for the marine life that is protected by the Fishery Department of Sabah. Tiny fishes hide under the intertwined mangrove roots from feeding birds. [source]

Geared up with his binocular. He was quite excited spotting the mudskippers and fiddler crabs. Walking along the boardwalk, we could hear clucking/tapping sound made by the male fiddler crabs - as they wave their oversized claws high in the air and tap them on the ground in an effort to attract females.

"tap!" "tap!"

Quite interesting to see this amphibious fish uses its pectoral fin, to "walk" on mud.

Baby C enjoyed himself too

Mama, carry me please.

At the platform where the three generations were bird-watching.

We didnt see many birds, probably it was too early for the birds to come home (It was around 5pm). We spotted a little Egret and a kingfisher searching their pre-dinner meal.

The locals called this bird Keruak, or other name is the white-breasted Waterhen. I had always wanted to catch this bird when I was little; but it was too fast for me. It is one noisy bird that made the ruak ruak ruak sound. I guess, that's where it get its local name from.

Unfortunately, it is sad to see lots of rubbish in the mangrove swamp. Those rubbish probably was washed in during high tide, or could also dumped by irresponsible patrons. Wonder if people would ever change and start to care the environment. By the way, do you see a little crab next to the green bottle?

Cuti-Cuti Sabah: Kundasang / Ranau

2009-08-14T00:07:00.022+08:00

We decided to stay at Zen Garden Resort this time, the previous years were at Mesilau / National Park / Pine Resort. Quite spacious, a chalet with four bedrooms inc WC in each room. It has a kitchen, a dining area and a living room with TV (But who wants to watch TV during vacation? - Well, we did as it was a very cold and windy night that time, we dare not to go out - not after dinner, at least!).

It was a good decision that we did steamboat at the balcony, bought fresh vegetables at the close by market place. BILs barbequed some chicken wings while SIL & MIL prepared the steamboat tom yam & chicken s. Well, I was busy as usual, the amah (maid) for the kids who were monkeying around, having good fun.

Tickle Koko! Lately, the two boys were seen playing together well.

Cheeky C!

My turn!

We visited the Kinabalu National Park. It was raining, so we decided to visit the Kinabalu Natural History Gallery instead. Local handicraft, local musical instruments, animal/insect/plant specimen, history, rocks and minerals and other info relates to the National Park; a small gallery, but I think its worth visiting. But the best part was : hillarious when my nephew read the Malay text in his American accent : SELEMET DETHENG! bla bla bla. more reading..bla bla.. kewesen kundeseng! bla bla..... haha! We got nothing better to do as we were killing time waiting for the rain to stop.

We visited the Kundasang War Memorial too, which was built in 1962 to remember the 2,428 Australian-British POWs during the WWII who died during the Sandakan Death March in 1945. From the info I read, only 6 survived to tell the story. I remembered that my parents did bring us here some donkey years... But with the newly restoration done sometime in 2005, it is so beautiful with three gardens - the Australian, English & Borneo garden.

Lest We Forget!

As we entered, these notice board caught our attention. hmmm... Just wondering if they could have word them better.

At the Australian Garden (^_^)

The top is a contemplation garden to commomerate those names who didnt return home. Reading their names, age and how they died gave me the chill. I was taken aback, overwhelmed with what were written, at the same time remembered Agnes Keith's Three Came Home book where she did mentioned about her encounter with a few of the Australian soldiers who tried to run away from the Japanese. RIP, dear brothers!

Commomeration of those who never return home. Rest In Peace.

At the top of the roof, overlooking part of Kundasang village.

The next day, we visited the Poring Hot Spring... again! hehehe.. yeah, it will not be complete to visit Kundasang without going to Poring. With the little toddler with me, I decided to forgo the canopy walk this time, instead chilled (more like steamed) with MIL at one of the enclosed bath tubs. However, we were quit dissapointed that the running hot water doesnt smell ~~rotten egg~~ sulphuric enough.. U know, we were like, did they use the actual Hot Spring water? Just wondering....

Koko C decided to join Papa for the canopy walk, which again suprised us as he became more adventurers than we expected. (Did you know that the name Poring comes from a dusun word for a bamboo species found in that area? - Wiki).

On the hanging bridge

Lets hug a tree

This definitely more than a century old tree.

Taking a break before heading downwards.. corn corn corn!

And before we headed home, we stopped by at Tagal Sg Moroli, Ranau. Can you guess what we did there? Check out the few pictures below.

Care for fish massage anyone? hehehe

The kelah fish are so tame, they rub their body against our feet. With food in our hand, they rush towards it and start sucking the food - and suck our skin too, just like a sensation of a vacuum cleaner against our skin.. Suprisingly, they seemed to have no teeth....

Baby C was enjoying the massage. In fact he was trying to ~~hit~~ catch some fish around him.

Cant get enough of the fish, BIL carried him dipping the whole body in to the river. He just love the cold dip, refused to come out when we called him. Too bad, one only allowed to dip for 15 minutes. I guess the management dont want to stress the fish too!

and koko decided to stay out of the water, he rather feed the fish from the river bank.

It has been a fun trip, except that the majestic mountain has shied away from us. Too bad, with rainy day like this, its too cloudy to enjoy the scenic view.

Next post: Kinabatangan / Sandakan trip. Stay Tune!

Cuti-Cuti Sabah: Nexus Karambunai

2009-08-12T01:45:00.009+08:00

We stayed at one of the Nexus Pool Villa for 3D2N. Everyone loved the place, very spacious - 3 rooms with a kitchenette, and a private lap pool by the side.

Baby C just love the water, demanded to be in it every time he remembered;

while koko C was getting use to the water.

Koko C was having fun, with his cousins around him.

(Thank you Felyx & Rikki)

Live pawns!

Batik painting with Dai Gu (Papa's elder sister)

Dipping himself at the poolside

At the beach, it seemed like he was in deep thought.. felt insecure as he held Rikki's hand.

Trying to overcome the fear in water - arrrhhhhhhhhhhhh!!! - showing his masculinity at a young age!

Finally, he forgot all his fears and went into the sea water!

The kids physically enjoyed themselves, esp being in the water (pool & beach). They cycled, tandem biking, surfed (unfortunately, our waves arent big enough), swam and swam and swam.... and got sun burn all over!

U Wilson & koko C, kayaking at the Nexus Lagoon; before we went back home. We were suprised, despite having fear of water, Koko persuaded to do kayaking.

Next trip: Kundasang

Cuti-Cuti Sabah: Lok Kawi Wild Life

2009-08-11T23:11:00.009+08:00

It has been a while since the last break we took with the Vuns. Due to the H1N1 outbreak, we decided not to venture out to Bangkok nor Perth. Instead, we did the cuti-cuti Sabah.

My BIL always say OHANA, that means family ~ family means nobody gets left behind or forgotten (excerpts from Lilo & Stitch). So that means, whatever crazy adventure we were heading for, all must join.

So there we were, driving from the western to the eastern of North Borneo. We cancelled the northern part as we figured that we were too exhausted to drive another 3 hour journey to the tip of Borneo, instead we went down south, an hour and a half drive to the Padas River.

The best part of this holiday was seeing the kids spending time together, where before this, they only met each other via skype. To koko C, they are the big bro/sis he never had. A good 17days spending time with them, koko C had forgotten to seek attention from his parents - hehehe - a good thing, that gave us a break. Slowly, we'd noticed that koko C started to pick up accent in his conversation. and both the boys were growing at a faster rate... (hey, I didnt realise that baby C could understand Malay too!)

Some pix at Lok Kawi Wildlife Park, the most economical visit where we only paid minimum RM10 and spent time there for almost 6 long hours. This is one place where we always love to visit.

Bumpy ride!

Hey, papa!

With uncle Wilson, the mad photograper from Seattle & his daughter Rikki, a future botanist/zoologist in the making. She knows the name/details of most plants/animals that we came across with... and she is only 13yo.

Felyx, the future Malaysia International soccer player - kidding! the machoman in the making... one of the family's most talented kid - always excels in whatever field he chooses to be in. One determined kid - only 16yo, his future is in his own hand!

Cant resist to share this pix - elephants bonding, taken by BIL. This is one of my favourite animals - the elephant in general. These ones here are the Borneo Elephants. There are more of the pictures, but I must only pick one (else this blog post will be flooded!)

BIL sees things differently, that shows by the photos that he took. Instead of an animal, he take the details of it. Fascinating shots! Well, I rather not post too many of his photos here... I cant afford to pay royalty fees. hehehe. Btw, do you know that a male zebra is the black one with white stripes, and a female one is the white with black stripes.

Next was the Nexus trip.

Lucky July

2009-07-17T10:49:00.002+08:00

Its the time of the year again. Somehow, this month is a lucky month for me.. Many happennings just before my big day.

16 years ago, I was on a plane which 9 other friends to Peninsular Malaysia, to do my A-Levels in Taylor's College, Subang Jaya

14 years ago, I was on a plane to Sydney Australia to do my degree course in University of Technology Sydney

2 years ago, I won a Montessori Homeschool kit online from montessoriboard.com (now is called montessori materials)

Last year, I got a free cake from a wonderful, newly found friend

Few days ago, I won a voucher from mycheekyboo.com via shopping online

This morning, I got 3 kisses from my 3 wonderful boys. Sweet!!

Thank you Lord for this beautiful day, Thank you friends for your wonderful wishes

yahooooooooo!!
Birthday MySpace Comments

Baby C at 15mo

2009-07-15T01:28:00.008+08:00

Time flies very fast.. Baby C has turned 15 months old early this month :)

According to Montessori, at 15mo, the early mission of hand and brain development is complete; now the intellect - guided by information supplied by the hand, is developing and the hand is now an effective tool.

He walks and runs with good balance, able to climb up and down the stairs (or chairs/sofas) without our assistance.

He says "dom" when he gets down and "Up" when he is climbing on something..

Currently, that works as an alert as I know what is he up to..

Climbing on to his favourite sofa.

His brain is ready - able to communicate with us using his body language. Nodding head means he agrees and shaking his head means he disagrees. He also understands instructions (both in English and Hakka) and able to let us know what he desires. For example, he is able to give us instruction on where he wants to go, which side of the table he wants to place his plate/cup and let us know if he wants milk (by touching his chest and says "nenen") or to drink water (by dragging us to the kitchen and point at the water tank or doing self-made drinking sign) or to get something in the fridge. He is able to say few words like Mama, Papa, TaTa (koko), Tungtung (Kungkung), ook (book). He loves books, and able to choose which books he wants me to read for him during bedtime.

He picked this book from under the coffee table. This is one of his favourite.

You dont want to know what is he doing here! LOL! A new position while 'milking'.

His motor skills like spooning and pouring are developing well. He is able to feed himself (but with lots of mess) and pour water from one cup into another one. His pincer grip is working well, like picking up little items such as food / minute objects from the floor. He also uses the pincer grip muscle to point to items/places he wants us to bring him to.

One of his favourite toys : Cooking!

Another current favourite! He loves sorting shapes and stacking too! In the pix, he is 'feeling' the dimension of a rectangle, only then he puts it in through the hole (tho not necessary will get it right - most of the time its "fluke shot").

Pinching his food

Gulp! Gulp! to quench his thirst

Follows whatever big Koko does.

He loves music. Not only he dances when listening to one, but he hums and sometimes ~~mumbles~~ sings to familiar tunes. He will also clap and pat/tap to musical beats.

He looks highly on his koko

Cheering for Koko while koko does the shuffle! hahaha

The B-Boys doing the downrock!

He has his sense of orders. He is aware of his daily routine like going outdoors when it is almost 4pm (Hey, kids do have some sense in time by looking outside the house.. lol), the things need to do during bath etc. Recently he is addicted to shoes, putting them on in the house and will insists that we put on ours too. With that, he will bring our shoes/sandals (and he knows very well which ones belonged to who) to us.

He putting on his slipper

Learning about himself.. and his shadow

At the moment, he is at the stage of potty learning. I know, it seemed too early for him, probably he sees his brother uses the toilet and he follows him in there.. (yeah, sounds disgusting, but he enjoys the experience.. hahaha). So, normally when both of us are in good mood (I do get energy low sometimes), I will put him in undies with cotton pants. Should there be any accident, the layers will absorb most of the urine. Recently, I bought some Monril training pants from Bonnie.. and it holds one-time pee which is fine with me. (I am at the extreme case of potty training kids... ahhaah.. let them pee on their pants, let them feel the wetness sensation and they will inform me that they need to change..)

Caught red-handed! ahahahahah!!!

He has a habit of taking off his diapers.. I am not in favour of diapers with velcro because he was able to unstrap himself since he was 10mo. And now, even with buttons he can remove his diapers. He is showing more interest to be potty trained.

p/s currently he is in his sensitive period of movement, language, sensory refinement, small objects and orders.

I need some inspiration

2009-07-13T14:19:00.001+08:00

My blog has been abandoned... sigh!

My Cheeky Boo (dot) com

2009-06-27T00:12:00.004+08:00

I love the name. Well, if you asked, it is a newly opened e-store by a friend of mine who is in love with Cloth Diapers!

I recently got into Cushie Tushies and was glad that finally, I can purchase one locally. One of the reason is that I can save on shipping costs! So, thanks Bonnie for bringing CT into KK. hehehehhe.

My Cushie Tushies - love them as they are super absorbent, and love the minky prints too!

Lately, I have been purchasing AIO cds as I am getting super lazy with pocket cds. Dunno why!

All the best with your new business, Bonnie! You have my support!

p/s Just to let you know that her Panda Baby Nappies are on sale, 15% off!

Michael Jackson passed away

2009-06-26T07:48:00.004+08:00

Breaking news. A friend smsed me early this morning, "Michael Jackson had passed away! Sad"

Sad indeed!

Rest In Peace, MJ! you r not alone.. Thank you for the music!

In 1972

Recent (I think)

Mastering his world around him

2009-06-25T01:50:00.008+08:00

I am always inspired by Montessori when its about my boys' development. Thanks to her, I am able to see and understand their actions/reasoning based on her research made 100 years ago.

Maria Montessori believed the child’s mind from birth to six years is quite different from the adult’s and labeled it an absorbent mind. The child effortlessly soaks in everything in his culture and environment.

Montessori called children under 6 years old the "sensorial explorer" as they learn about their world based on the 5 senses. That is why it is always encouraging to use concrete materials that can be touched / felt with the small hands ; and are real things - not plain plasticy toys that do not have much texture, not fantasy that cannot be seen with our naked eyes. It is not possible for the little minds to use their imagination/abstract thinking if they have not seen / touch one before.

Feeling the water sensation. Can a person who has not feel water knows what is water? same goes for a lil child, how does he knows COLD if he never experience it?

Fireman to the rescue

I do admit, in this ~~instant~~ modern world, children even adults are getting more and more impatience because they want to see the outcome immediately! Kids want to be entertained, instead of discovering the real world. They prefer to be in front of the computer / TV for hours, instead of being outdoors getting dirty & sweaty. It is difficult to get good, quality toys that encourages the child's thinking ability too. I see young boys adore their "Ben 10" watch that could costs their parents more than RM100 (I remembered one young boy - no more than 5 years old said to me - "I got Ben 10 watch, you dont!") hahahaahha... I always wonder what is in the child's mind by having that expensive watch? Does he thinks he is be able to mutate just like Ben 10? Does he thinks he is a super hero too? I dont know, deep in side me, I just laugh out loud. Maybe it's the in thing or peer pressure! *shrugs* I dread if my kid one day asked me to buy one for him too! (Lil C doesnt really know who is Ben10, but he did receive some Ben 10 stuffs for his birthday gift. I wonder does he really need to know who B10 is? Will it benefit him at this young age?) It is not that I dont allow my kids to watch TV, but I will always encourage them to explore and develop their refined hand movements instead. The hand is the chief teacher of the child.

In the first stage of development, the infant child absorbs the world through his unconscious intelligence. Merely by being moved about in it, now he takes in consciously using his hand. This is the first job that he has to do – to get the hand ready as a tool that he can direct. The hand has now become the instrument of the brain; a child touches something and his hand reports it to the brain. The brain decodes and guide the hand with the new information, the hand discovers more and reports to the brain again. This process is a continuous action of learning and developing and it is through the activity of his hands that he enriches his experience and develops himself at the same time. According to Montessori, "We must give no more to the eye and the ear than we give to the hand.” (E.M. Standing, Maria Montessori: Her Life & Work). It could pose a problem which could cause disunity when the brain gets ahead of the hand and the hand is no longer feeding the brain.

Basically what it mean is that where there is input, the should have an output. I call that balance in learning! Montessori actually developed a "psychomotor timeline" to show how the preparation of the body and hands proceeds in unison from the begining of life with development in one area complementating that in the other. There fore it is important to assist the child with the right activities based on their age group. You can read about it here

Here's a 3minute action from baby C having breakfast by himself.. watch till the end.. haha

here's more about lil C in 2007.

feeding himself
Pouring drinks himself

Dejavu

2009-06-22T23:31:00.005+08:00

Do you get this often? A feeling like, "I seen this before". Scarry?? hahahaha.. well, not these ones.

Would like to share some photos we took during our kampung visit to my parents' place.

Baby C amused himself with the sand. He just love its texture!

Wait, now who is this?

Seeing double???

Lil C loves running along the beach side

hahaha!!! Yeap, he was trained since he was very very young!

The kids.. (noticed how lil C's hand gesture while chatting with jiajia?)

And these were them back in 2006.. almost 3 years ago had passed!

You can check my entry here!

A hot item as everyone was playing with it.

We bought this kite in KL. According to the salesperson, this kite's material is similar to the parachute kind of material, very light and allows the kite to fly easily. True enough!

Cheeky Cs

On the way back from the beach, we spotted this. Can you guess what is the basketball net made of? LOL!! Creative huh?

...................................................................................................................

Back at my parents' place. The kids love this place because my parents have big yard for the kids to play. Baby C spent the whole day outdoor - discovering lots of new things.

One of the pictures that makes me laugh!

A dream came true

2009-06-18T23:49:00.011+08:00

One of our activities during the recent school break, we visited a Firestation in Sembulan, KK. One of my cousin works there, so it was an informal visit. He brought us around and explained how does a Fire department work, in brief.

The kids, esp lil C were estatic to see real-life monstrous fire engines right infront of his eyes. He is one kid who is crazy over fire engines! You could hear the ooohs and aaaahs from this lil boy. The closest he ever been to one was one that passes our house quite frequently, but never touch them, what more ride on one. (Ok, that goes the same to Mama too, there's always a first time, right? - and this visit would not be the last one either! )

Here's us!

One of the Fire Rescue Tenders. Not sure how much water could this engine transport, probably 8,000 litres? Lil C was impressed by the roller shutters!

My cousin, Abang Abit, was kind enough to bring us around. Thanks abang.

These are the equipments needed to do the job - water pump, chain saw, helmet & other tools.

Lil C was amused with the water hoses - so many of them.

The rear of the engine - all the water pump equipment

My brother & family posing in front of the tender, with all the roller shutters were up.

Taking a break on another fire tender, I think this is a bigger one compare to the earlier. Could transport water as much as 10,000litres. Lil C kept instructing me taking pix of them

This is the TurnTable Ladder aka TTL, it got the oohhs and aahhs from us! It is so magnificent, beautiful red! (Ok, I know, its a novelty to me). Was told that the ladder can go as high as 100 metres (or feet??? - cant remember).

On the TTL

Lil C insisted me snapping this pix as he was excited seeing the ladder under this tender.

Fire Jet Ski.. vrrooom!

I wonder if these fire bikes are a team, meaning that 3 goes together to perform a task.

Each one has specific tasks; one carries the Floating Pump Unit, one is the Rescue Unit carrying cutting equipment and the last one carries Hose & BC Unit - predominantly at RTAs and small urban fires. Not sure, I only learn this online. Maybe next visit, I'll take a look closely!

An old Engine

Rescue boat!

Posing next to the racks of Firemen Uniforms.

We were told that the firemen use different uniform for different occasion.

The orange jacket (as seen in the picture above) is fire proof, so are the boots under it.

Not sure about the other attire, the patch of green and red.

Another uniform seen is blue (like the one the officer wore - shown at the photo below). Someone can explain please? (I left my memory bank somewhere)

This is the control room. This is where the '994' calls are received and they are able to identify the callers numbers. I wonder if that will solve the prank calls problem?

I was also told that there are few 'direct lines' from certain department around KK; no need to dial. Bestnya... esp if it links to my house directly.. teeheehee

Kakak Michelle taking care of Baby C

After walking around for one hour or so, the kids were exhausted. When we arrived home, lil C was bragging to everyone at home about his visit to the Fire Station. He then whispered to me, "Mama, next time, can we go and visit the Police Station?" hahahaha! He was already planning ahead. Hmmm... I dont have any police friend to visit... :D

Evaluation: I dont expect much out of a 4 year old kid with this visit. He was running around with his cousins, excited about the red machines! He got excited when he saw the roller shutter! He got excited to see the TTL & long ladders. I think the visit were educational, even for us adults. Unfortunately, this wasnt an Open Day so we cant see any fireman in action. Maybe next time!

This is all for now. Will post more activities later.

HFMD strikes again

2009-05-21T23:36:00.008+08:00

Latest update: Lil C had HFMD last week Monday, the third time in three years. The third day after Lil C got it, Baby C was also infected. Thank God that this time, it was very mild. There wasnt any fever, just blister inside the mouth & a couple on their palms and lack appetite to eat.

There's no medicine to give, just some mouthwash to asisst oral hygiene and a lot of liquid to prevent dehydration. We gave icecream, chilled milk.. basically anything that the kids wanted to eat, because during this period, they refused most kind of food.

After a week quarantined the kids at home, the symptom had cleared and the kids started to gain their appetite again. Good news too that it started raining few days back which cooled the atmosphere a bit, so we went out to the garden to work play.

p/s Lil C missed school for 2 weeks because I didnt want to send a 'sick' child to school, and I was making sure that he is 100% healed. The best thing about it was there was no whining / nagging about hurrying a reluctant child to school.. hehehe

Out at the garden, baby C having his apple snack

Lil C helping kungkung to trim the Starfruit branches

hmm.. can you see how skinny has he been?

While baby C busied himself collecting some cut branches..

"Look, I found a tiny Starfruit!"

"Mama, I think I found the ants' nest!" while baby C was also busy looking at it too.

Using the Spindle Box work on simple maths

A Montessori spindle box is wooden with ten compartments numbered zero to nine along the back. The lesson also includes 45 wooden spindles and is intended for children who have already done some work with number rods and numeral cards. This lesson introduces the concept of zero and helps children associate the numbers zero through nine with their proper quantities.

This is funny. Lil C made this using his Lepao blocks. He claimed that the people in Hong Kong used this tool (a long time ago) over their shoulder to carry water buckets... hahaha! He specifically mentioned Hong Kong, but I think he meant chinese people.. He must have seen some of my Chinese History books with old photos.. lol!

Yes, he too love to scribble!

Badminton, anyone?

Using tennis balls?? hahaha! I think the kids are confused between Federer & Chong Wei

Monkey see, monkey do

Lil C built a hovercraft complete with the air-cushion underneath it, after watching about it in Discover Channel earlier.

While baby C playing along

Lil C built a truck, with reference to his Truck book (on the left)

Did some craft with paper & starch-glue, trying to make a soldier steel helmet.. lol!

Sketched a house plans, while described the details to me.. quite impressive!

Yeah, have no time to blog nowadays... Those are just some activities we did at home.. Tomorrow, we are going to the Wildlife Park !! yeay!

Montessori Materials - Resource for Homeschool

2009-05-08T11:12:00.005+08:00

Another good site for our Montessori Homeschool resources at Montessori Materials. Who says homeschooling is expensive? There are so many sites online that share good materials and all you need is own effort to search for them!

Btw, while there are many of these can be found easily, as caring parents, always do filter and make sure that your child is ready for these activities (as he will show interest). Also, I would still recommend the child to do more concrete activities for the child's self discovery, only then proceed to abstract ones. (Mind you, a young child doesnt see things the way we do. It's like they want to feel what does rough texture feels compare to the smooth ones. He doesnt want you to tell him that rough feels rough and smooth feels smooth.)

Enjoy.

Other interesting links for toddlers at MontessoriMom.com

Life is very short ~ Thank You Lord, for the beautiful day

2009-05-04T23:18:00.008+08:00

Recent sunday morning, as usual, we were busy preparing ourselves and the kids for Sunday Mass. I bent down to lift baby C from the floor to change him. Suddenly I felt a sharp pain pinning on my lower back. I immediately let go of baby C and collapsed. Poor boy, luckily he fell on one of the big pillows. I cried for DH who saw what happened. I was lying with my chest on the floor, but I couldnt and didnt dare to move because my back really hurt. He asked if I could wiggle my toes. I could. There wasnt any bruises on my back either. He then placed a hot pack on my back as a temporary relief until I was comfortable to lie on my back.

The thoughts back then when I collapsed was terrifying! Flashes of memories/images came to me, the "what ifs" questions attacked my brain... "What if I cant walk anymore?""What if I die at this point of time?".. I know they sounded silly, but it was quite scarry at that time! My mind was occupied about "WHo's going to take care of the kids if I get sick?" "what's going to happen to them if I die / paralysed". In the background, I could hear baby Cameron was crying for me, he definitely knew something happened because I was not responding to his cry, I couldnt turned my head to look at him either. I felt so helpless. Koko Christian was stunned and worried that he just sat quietly next to me, he didnt know what to do, but to stay next to me. During the time when DH was trying to comfort me & the kids, I was talking to God, to help me go through this pain. I asked him to give me strength and more time so that I can spend quality time with them. Seriously, I told Him that I dont mind dying early, but please let me spend enough time growing up with my boys.

Like once an inspiring friend, Wai Leng said,"Live NOW and make life worth living. For life is too short to be miserable, and too precious to be wasting away in useless pursuits".

Thank God it was only muscle pulled. I went for an alternative treatment (cupping suction) for my back and was told by the chinese doctor that it happened because my body was too tired and lack of rest. Another thing that I found out was that after the suction, one's body will have red/blackish mark but mine didnt. The doctor explained that because I could be anaemic (which is true). I never go for such alternative treatment, this was my first experience as MIL brought me there. I was bed-ridden for the whole day that Sunday. My back still hurts that it limits my movement, I walk like a robot at the moment. Minimising carrying things and especially baby C. Missing them already, even they are next to me!

p/s Most of the night, before we go to sleep (and before the read books ritual), we always have a short simple prayer lead by lil C which goes like this: "Thank You God for the beautiful day, Thank you God for the beautiful night. Please protect Mama, Papa, Koko, Baby, KungKung, Pohpoh, Nenek, Ingkung and Suksuk". A short prayer but meant well from a four year old kid.

p/s2 and I thank you Lord for everyday.

Cameron in April

2009-04-29T11:20:00.007+08:00

"Koko, are your eyes closed?" baby C thought his koko was playing with him

His current favourite meal: potato + mixed vegies

Last week was toasted bread

Vroooom!!! This reminded me of Lil C when he was a baby

His favourite snack: Jacob Cream Crackers

Hiding away while indulging himself

"Cameron!!! What have you done with my things!!" Koko upset about this...

"Tang!! Tang!!!" translated in English as : I wanna be just like Koko when I grow up

yes.. I run too... but very slow... like makcik siput :p !

Random April

2009-04-29T00:29:00.009+08:00

Joyride with the boys.
I have not been sitting at the front seat for a very long time.. prolly eversince lil C was born... seriously!! Now, with both carseats at the back seat, my fat butt cant squeeze in between the spaces anymore (Thank God! lol). Lil C is happy to have his brother to sit next to him, and Baby C does not cry knowing his koko is always there to keep him ~~distracted~~ happy!

One of his favourite past times. This was the first time Lil C played at the sand bunker. He was having difficulty hitting the ball out into the fairway. While every golfer hates this section, lil C was having fun being in here. The sand was everywhere on his head, body, in shoe.. Finally, after a number of hits, he managed to hit the ball out! Pheww!!

Wait... Not to forget to instill the golf etiquette in this young tiger! Rake the bunker to smooth out the footprints and other marks made before leaving the bunker :)

carrying his own golf bag, back to the driving range..

and hit another 50 balls... The most important is that he enjoyed the whole learning process.

Some random pictures: lil C's collection of airplanes made using duplo & lepao blocks.

Picture taken by Lil C.. say cheese!

meanwhile, update on baby C, he started walking 2 days after he turned 1. Now, he can walk without support and trying to run after his koko :) Now.. where is the video I took...??

I am reading ...

2009-04-26T01:58:00.009+08:00

I think that this book is good for beginners. I like it the way it says: Take Charge of Your Child's Education. While a lot of people are against homeschooling because of socialisation issue, here in this book it shares about it.

Social skills include taking turns, sharing, praising and thanking others, treating others with respect and kindness, listening to others, conversing with others, showing interest in others, following directions, exercising patience and tolerance, resolving conflicts and resisting negative peer pressure.

A child can achieve these social skills in the home by learning basic manners and proper conduct, intereacting with family members, developing quality friendships, engaging conversations with others and through role-playing to further hone their social skills for variety situations...

I could clearly recall how Moral class was taught during my time in school - i.e. using textbook & lecturing about it! and I firmly believe that it is not necessary to attend formal school in order to learn proper manners..There are a lot of social opportunities out there like making friends with the parents' friends' children, neighbours, relatives, grandparents, uncles, aunties, friends' from music/swimming class... etc... and they come from interesting background and age.. as compared to own classmates in school... They only have friends of their own age... Anyways, you can visit the author's website.

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At the same time, I would also encourage my dear readers to read Women In Sabah book (written sometime in the 1980s by SAWO as the title said it all - and no! the contents arent obsolete!! Take heed!). This book can be downloaded here.

Women as a group are often seen through the certain stereotypes and realities of a minority of women who are more often highlighted in the media. The majority of women, who in their daily lives struggle to sustain their families and communities, remain unseen and unheard.

This book, published by SAWO, attempts to give a more balanced view and understanding of the status and contribution of the women in the state. It looks at a representative profile of women in Sabah based on our present understanding as well as drawing on the diverse richness of women's experiences. Taking a gender approach, this book highlights women's position within the present structures of economy, politics, socio-culture, education and law.

We have also shared some possible steps for meaningful changes; the most important being the working together of women and men in the process of building a just and equal world. Our vision of society, where there is no longer oppression within and across national, class, ethnicity and gender, is evident throughout the entire book.

Something to ponder upon...

One Chicken Ala Carte, please!

2009-04-25T00:18:00.003+08:00

I remembered when I was little, wastage of food was a no-no, esp having dinner with dad. He would tell us that a grain of rice costs 5sen, a quarter of a milo glass (unfinished) costs 20sen etc.

He would remind us siblings to remember his background, a poor farmer's son adopted by a European priest who sent him off to school at the age of 12. His parents were to poor to sent him to one. Those time, to have a piece of chicken thigh for dinner was luxury, which had to be shared with 12 other siblings of his.

Watching this video reminded me of him. Something to share and ponder!

Happy Earth Day

2009-04-22T23:29:00.007+08:00

I always remind myself to stay green. Its difficult in this instant world, but I am trying.

I used clothes diapers, clothes wipes instead of disposable diapers & wipes.

I try to reduce plastic bags by using reusable bag.

I try to encourage the kids to be more outdoor, to interact with the environment, to learn to love nature.

Will do more next time.

Love our world for the next generation to keep.

More info about what they talking about: This Bulb

Homeschool interviews on Radio BFM

2009-04-22T02:03:00.003+08:00

These were a month ago. Two (families) pioneer homeschoolers in Malaysia were interviewed by BFM ; the Soon & the Tan! I missed their live interviews as usual (babysitting) and now listening to the recorded ones.

To those who are interested to know more, here are the links. Enjoy!

KV Soon & Wai Leng (Family Place): About Homeschooling
David & Sook Ching Tan (Homefrontier): A personal account of homeschooling
Chong Wai Leng (Family Place) & Dr Hasnah Toran (Faculty of Education, UKM):Homeschooling children with special needs

My home, my school

2009-04-22T01:27:00.001+08:00

By ALYCIA LIM

Education as a rigid structure? Many parents have gone the extra mile to customize a best-fit for their child’s education.

Homeschooling is not a foreign topic, rather it has been a method of education from ancient times, before schools even came into existence.

FUN LEARNING: A light moment between Elliot and his father David, during a lesson.

Unfortunately, the idea of homeschooling has not really been given a proper status in the Education forefront, and as a result, homeschoolers have had to depend on each other for guidance and support.

Education Faculty senior lecturer at UKM, Dr Hasnah Toran said that even today, there has not been much research done on homeschooling because it has always remained a subject that is pursued in the interest of parents themselves.

Speaking on the topic at a national level, Dr Hasnah said, “In Malaysia, parents do not have a place where they can seek professional help on homeschooling their children.”

She added that in countries like the United States, there are local advisers to help with the curriculum, and schools are more open to accepting students part-time, where they go in only for the extra-curricular activities, or take one or two subjects in school.

Speaking on behalf of homeschooling parents, Dr Hasnah said that as taxpayers, parents should have the right to proper guidance if they choose to homeschool their children.

However, while she is supportive of parents who want to homeschool, Dr Hasnah acknowledges that there are disadvantages of the homeschooling approach.

“It is my gentle reminder that parents need to expose their children to the Malaysian culture, and the different races in Malaysia. With modules from abroad, there are no elements of our local culture so children miss out on learning about their country and its history.”

Provide support

But having homeschooled her own child due to a learning disability, she understands that there are many reasons why parents homeschool their children, therefore the government should be open to it, and provide the needed support.

“We cannot put parents in a pigeon hole any longer. Sometimes, children cannot cope with a two-dimensional rigid structure that schools apply, therefore we need to open the doors for different types of learners. In fact, at UKM, we have started a course where all future teachers have to take a class on learners diversity.”

Learning doesn’t have to be indoors. Hafiza teaching her children about plants at a park.

Pioneers in the homeschooling community in Malaysia, David Tan and Sook Chin homeschooled their two sons Ethan, 19, and Elliot, 17, and have reaped the benefits of homeschooling.

Speaking from his experience, Elliot said, “When I was younger, I didn’t really see learning as learning. In fact, I played a lot not knowing that I was actually learning from there.”

Tan said that when they first thought of homeschooling their two sons, they did research and were surprised to find that it was so common in the United States.

In Malaysia, however, homeschooling remains in the grey area, making it difficult for home-educators to come out in the open, due to fear of being forced to send their children back to mainstream schools.

“Our education system has not been keeping pace with the changes of society. Times are changing in a world where information is vastly available.

“By putting them in a classroom environment, those who have the potential to learn faster may be held back.”

Understanding that parents are not geniuses to help in every subject, Tan said that the homeschooling community practice “co-op learning,” whereby they source for someone who is passionate in a certain subject - be it a parent or teacher - to teach those who need help in that area.

A mother of four, Hafiza Abd Rahman and her husband are web designers working from home, and have children aged seven months to five years.

Although some may say it is too early to decide, Hafiza and her husband have made the decision to homeschool all of their children.

Hafiza said, “During my childhood days, I lived with my grandparents who taught us a lot at home. Even though they did not go to school and were not very highly educated, I learned my life skills from them, and they cultivated many good values in me.”

With such an experience, Hafiza decided to take the same approach for her children.

Personal choice

Coming from a mainstream government schooling education, Hafiza has no qualms about sending children to school.

However, she said that homeschooling her children is a personal choice.

“My husband and I share the idea that love starts from home, and that is also where education should begin, because it is a cultivated lifestyle, and learning is a process that a child should be able to enjoy doing with their parents.”

Ensuring a well-rounded education, she sends her children to extra-curricular classes like taekwondo, hip-hop and ballet, depending on their individual interest.

A believer in homeschooling, she has also gone the extra mile in helping other parents interested in educating their child at home.

“I run seminars and talks on how parents can teach their children at home, even though they are working.”

She said that while full-time homeschooling is enriching to both the parents and children, it does not come without a cost.

“Because homeschooling may have higher financial demands, many parents may not be able to afford the cost of it if they quit their jobs.

To solve that problem, Hafiza suggested that parents with children who go to mainstream schools do a ‘homeschooling programme’ at home, where they spend some time with each other consistently every day.

“It is important to spend some time with your child every day, even if it is only 15 minutes a day.” Apart from that, Hafiza stressed the importance of designating a study area at home, to help their child understand that it is an area where they learn.

“By creating a space for them, they will learn how to respect their parent’s space as well, so when parents have to bring their work home, the children will not feel abandoned as they can be asked to do their work in their area.”

For Stacy Ng* who lives in the Klang Valley, homeschooling has been a familiar topic for the past six years.

A mother of four, she says, “In my first two years of homeschooling, I sent my children to learning centres to get them used to the self-learning system.”

Although all four of her children are now homeschooling, they have all gone through kindergarten to learn basic reading and writing skills.

Character building

Believing that moulding a child’s character is a parent’s responsibility, she says, “My main purpose for homeschooling is to focus on my children’s character building. It is the moral education that I can give them, which they will keep for life.”

She added that while moral is taught in school, it is taught merely as a theoretical subject when it really should be taught through day-to-day practice.

The other aspect of homeschooling which Ng believes is absent in mainstream schooling are teaching a child life skills.

Ng says, “we do everything together as a family, and my children do not get rewards for doing housework because they understand that it is part of their responsibilities.”

“At the end of the day, homeschooling is not all about books, because life is not only about books. We want to build holistic children who are well rounded with good character.”

Homeschooling may be a very positive way of nurturing a child, but undeniably, there are downsides to it, language being one of the main concerns for many.

Since homeschooling is usually done in the English language, those who homeschool may not have a good grasp of the National language.

Ng said, “Although my children may be lacking in their Malay language proficiency, I do not see this as a big disadvantage because the English language remains as the main medium of communication, and if they know basic Malay, that should be enough for them to survive in this country.”

Saying that her family has no plans to migrate, Ng is quite inclined for her children to study locally.

“There are so many twinning courses available nowadays, and many colleges accept homeschoolers so I do not foresee any problems if their Malay language proficiency is lower than the other students.”

While it would be good to have a grasp of the language, looking at the overall advantages and disadvantages, Ng believes that the benefits of homeschooling easily trump the language issue.

Both sides of the coin

If there was anyone who could speak from both sides of the coin, it would be parents Ian and Jane Ng, who have two children in mainstream schools, and one who homeschools.

With three children aged between 13 and 19 years, the couple started homeschooling their youngest son after they found out that he was not coping well in a mainstream school.

“The schooling system was too rigid and tedious for him, so we decided to homeschool and he is now doing very well.”

Stating that homeschooling is not fit for every child, Ian said, “The schooling method should be based on the character of a child. My older son, who is 16, is more of a team player so I don’t think he would be happy to be homeschooled.”

Asked if the children have sibling rivalry or issues of jealousy due to the attention given to their youngest child, Ian said, “No, we do not have that issue because we are a very close knitted family, and as parents, we make sure our children understand why we are doing this.”

Head of Sri Garden Secondary School, Datin Christine Chiu believes that a school is still the best place to bring up a child.

“As an educator, I think that the right to homeschooling should only be given to those who are not able to attend school for one reason or another.”

Chew firmly believes that a child can only experience a holistic and complete education if they go to school.

“They (children) need to be exposed to the world around them. Inevitably, they will be influenced by their friends and not everything is good, but this is where they will have to learn how to screen out the bad things and learn from there.” She said that parents should not be over-protective of their children because there will come a day when their child will have to be independent.

When it comes to theoretical education, she says, “there is no pressure at home and no classmates to compare with so homeschoolers may not get a good gauge on how well they are actually doing.”

·Names with * have been changed.

Homeschoolers speak up

Joewin Lee had a very unusual schooling life. Having gone back and forth between mainstream schooling and homeschooling, he has experienced both ‘systems’ and said that he has no problems with coping, and even completed his UPSR, PMR and SPM examinations.

“The toughest part of the exams were the Malay language ones, but I still managed to get a B so it wasn’t too bad.”

Elaine Wong (second from left) doing an impromptu performance with college friends.

His mother, Jennifer Lee said, “I got him a private tutor to learn Malay, and to cover the syllabus in preparation for the exams because at the PMR level, the Malay language subject was difficult due to its high standard.”

Not giving up there, Joewin continued to sit for the SPM examinations, because he wanted to study law, which required him to take Malay at the SPM level.

“It was not easy. We gave him a choice and he wanted to do it so we let him go ahead.”

Home was school for 20-year-old Eunice Wong, who is currently pursuing her passion taking a degree in Contemporary Music in a private instititution.

Having completed her piano diploma and taken time off to do volunteer work, she says, “I think that homeschooling has benefited me tremendously, as I wouldn’t be where I am today if I didn’t homeschool.”

Given the opportunity to express their interest, Eunice says that her brother who is currently homeschooling, takes art lessons and volunteer to teach art because that is the area he is passionate in.

With so many activities going on in their lives, Eunice and her brother meet people from all walks of life and have a wide social circle.

“People who think homeschoolers do not have a wide social circle have the wrong mindset,” she says.

The official view

The Education (Amendment) Act 2002 states that homeschooling can only be considered under the following circumstances:

·The child must be exceptionally gifted or intellectually or physically disabled and the schools cannot meet this need;

·Family members travel abroad frequently;

·If homeschoolers are to be exempted, parents must ensure that they follow the national syllabus.

Source: The Star Online

If you havent heard of her yet - Susan Boyle

2009-04-18T01:21:00.007+08:00

When dh showed me her appearance in youtube for Britain So Talented, I was like.. "alamak, so kampungan (aunty next door)!" based on the way she dress. Then, when she started singing, my jaw almost fell. I was so moved.. was like, "OMG, Susan Boyle is amazing!! She has great voice! So up lifting!" Never judge a book by its cover!

If you havent heard of her yet, click here! This video alone has been viewed almost 20million times after couple of days uploaded, making it the most viewed video of the month worldwide. I personally watched this many times!!! Love her voice!! Cant get enough of her!! Enjoy!!

Below is her singing "Cry Me A River" from a charity cd in 1999.

My 'sand'paper Letter

2009-04-10T01:15:00.006+08:00

I revamped my sandpaper letter! No more using "sand", instead I used the soft velvety material as it is more delicate to ~~my 'eczema-prone' fingers~~ the kids. Inspired by mamabliss a long time ago, I only managed to complete the task recently.. Like what she said, "a painstaking experience ....... the things parents would do for their little ones"

This time, I did cursive letters as I think cursive are easier to trace than the print ones. (See here for the Language Activity with Sandpaper)

I downloaded the D'Nealian cursive fonts, using font size 500. I used double-sided adhesive tape to glue the letters on to the (yellow) felt material.

Cut according to the shape of the letters takes ~~days~~ hours to complete.. and this is just the demi-final result.

Paste the consonants on to the pink card and the vowels on the blue ones.

Lil C tracing and making the /i/ sound

Not bad :) Of course we cant expect Lil C to master the art of writing immediately. Learning is a journey, not result!

This is Mama's handwriting. I remembered my mom helped me to develop the cursive handwriting when I was in Primary 1. Not only it is beautiful, but it is more efficient in speedy notes taking than using the print ones. :) Nowadays, people had forgotten the art of handwriting.. You dont think it can be done?

Can u belive that this was written by a child age 5yo, in Montessori school? Beautiful huh?

meanwhile, baby C sharing his giggles...

Another note to share: say NO to mechanical pencils, it bad for the developing hands

Easter Craft #1

2009-04-10T00:39:00.005+08:00

Got this craft idea from Jojoebi. Thanks for sharing.

It's the Easter Bunny's ear craft!

This scissors is for lefty's hand. I will always buy relevant stationaries for lefties whenever I see one as I know its difficult to live in the righty's world.

Lil C cut the ears for the bunny

Check out here for further details. Mama skipped taking pix here...

Look, Mama Bunni & baby Bunni posing! (Baby C just woke up- in a grumpy mood)

Sad Baby Bunni: "Waaaa.. I dont like long ears!!!"

The kid, pretended as if he didnt know I was snapping him... tee hee hee

ah well, it was fun! Was thinking of another craft tomorrow... The crosses on calvary..

Cameron is 1

2009-04-08T02:54:00.006+08:00

Time really flies. It felt just like yesterday when baby C was born.. We did a simple, yet meaningful celebration on the 4.4.2009, a trio celebration! My mom was born on the 4.4.1944 (same date as Baby C) and niece Michelle's 6.4.1998. We had 2 cakes, carrot cheese cake for Baby C from Denna and the vedablu icecream cake for mum & mich.

The classical pose!

So cute! Love the doggie figurine (hmm.. the head kept falling off as Lil C was curious, keep touching it)

My little family

hmmm... which one is better?

Lemme try to break it first...

Before the cake cutting, the kids were dipping in the Pirate Ship (Baby C's birthday present from us) while Baby C was still in dreamland. In fact, Baby C slept the whole day from 12pm-4pm. Papa woke him up to blow his cake.

At night, when everyone had left.. Baby C was playing with his koko's Lepao Blocks.. trying to put the driver on his seat.

Baby C's 1st plane ride to KL

2009-04-08T00:03:00.016+08:00

This inaugural trip for baby C, we went to KL for official + personal trip. Before we left for KL, we asked Lil C if he had any places he wanted to visit. He told us that he wanted to see the KLCC Twin Tower. So we jot that down in our itinerary.

Queuing to check in at Terminal 2, AirAsia. We brought one luggage only.

Lil C loves seeing Men at Work.. He will describe every single transport & machines that being used.

We stayed in Boulevard Hotel, Midvalley for 5days; a better option for us to go window-shopping with kids. In case the kids were sleepy, we could just go up to our room to rest.

He just loves water!

Did some batik painting in one of the shops Papa training them to window shop. Love seeing the two boys in action

Our first night, we celebrated Earth Hour dining at Nando's in Midvalley. The mall had its lights turned off at least 40% and Lil C asked if there werent electricity during that night. I explained to him that its for the Global Warming Awareness and the Why Why Why kept going *dizzy*...

One of our main item in the shopping lists was Car Booster hunting, to upgrade Lil C's car seat. In fact, we had identified one before we arrived KL. Its the same place where we bought Lil C's first car seat, in 1utama. This time, we bought the Cybex Solution X for its safety and comfort feature. The old one will be inherited by Baby C (That's what happens when one isnt the eldest! Aren't the eldest kids lucky?)

Since we were at 1utama / damansara area, we decided to visit The Curve after being advised by friends that such place would have lots of kids' entertainment. Unfortunately, we didnt find anything for the kids to do. We were dissapointed for that took a day of our precious holiday.... hmmm... we could have visited KLCC instead...

A day before leaving KL, we planned to go to Sunway Lagoon. However, since SL only opens at 11am, so we thought of visiting KLCC first as Lil C was looking forward to see it with his own eyes (a backlog plan as the Curve visit took the timeslot). Instead of taking a direct trip using taxi to KLCC, we decided to let the kids experienced the LRT. So we took a taxi from our hotel to the nearest Bangsar LRT station... and the learning continued...

Walked up the stairs from the taxi stand to the Bangsar LRT station

Identified our stop and bought tickets from one of the vending machines.

Baby C didnt want to miss out too

Waiting for our train...

"KLCC is there!"

Lil C : "Mama, why there's no driver?"

Cak, I am in LRT

Boggeying with the Twin Tower

Next, we wanted to go up to the Skybridge that linked both towers together. Admission was free, but the queue was too long, so scrapped the idea. As we were about to leave KLCC, Lil C saw Dinosaurs eggs display and was excited about it. We asked around and found out that there's a Dinosaur Exhibition (DinoTrek) at the PetroScience in Level 4.

At the DinoTrek Entrance. It was quite dark inside and Lil C hated the dark. He also wasnt keen seeing the dinosaur 'robots' after all...

The Spinosaurus protecting its eggs

A robot model of a Stegosaurus.

Next was the PetroScience and Lil C enjoyed the experience. THis was the highlight of his trip. He kept referring the Backyard Science TV programme (Astro Ch 552) to these experiences.

building a "pipe" for the ball to roll

playing with the "Magnetic field"

scooping some 'beans' on to the bucket

built his own "racing" car

It was fun at the PetroScience and that took us almost 4 hours to complete the whole journey (Baby C was sleeping in my pouch half of the time). We left KLCC before 5pm to avoid the bad traffic jam and decided to return to Midvalley for dinner. So, we didnt go to Sunway Lagoon either, but we felt that PetroScience was a better activity this time around.

Baby C feasting!

Makan Time, very very hungry!

"LEGO City" - Lil C found his favourite shop in The Gardens, next to MegaMall. Yeah, we visited this shop EVERY NIGHT without fail.

Our luggageS - 48kg! and no, I didnt get any books for myself :(

p/s Apology all friends esp to Elaine, Met & Flo for unable meeting you guys there. Travelling with the kids, there could be quite unpredictable. Will meet you guys nextt ime!

Another interesting Montessori site

2009-03-26T21:24:00.001+08:00

Yeap, I am a crazy collector of these stuffs. :)

Check out MonteSecrets, an insider's guide to Montessori.

Happy browsing

Baby C's first hair cut

2009-03-14T03:34:00.003+08:00

hahaha.. yeah! So busy and no time to update about him..

Whatcha looking at? Dont call me AMOI kay!

lol! (Flo, this scrunchy belongs to Luvie.. u guys left it here during ur CNY visit)

Wherever we go, people always mistaken baby C as a girl.. so, we decided to give him a hair cut.. snip snip!!

Snip Snip! He was good.. dint cry a bit!

New look.. so, do I look more boyish with the new hair?

Yeap, I am Mr Tempurung (Coconut Head)

Physical Development at 10 months

2009-03-14T02:38:00.008+08:00

Back dated post : Feb 2009

Observation made on baby C's Physical Development (10 minutes) at the living room

C is sitting alone on the floor mat. Around him, there is a small basket contains few pieces of Duplo blocks, a fist-size yellow ball and a cloth book. Two metres away on his right is a kid-size table and chair; and half a meter away on his left is the sofa where his grandmother is sitting, watching a television program.

Time	Observation
0900	C sits on the floor mat by himself, babbling. He sees a basket, takes it using his right hand and swings it, causing the things to fall out from the basket. His attention is at the yellow ball. He picks up the yellow ball using his left hand. He looks at the ball and puts it next to his ear. Then he looks at it again, and tosses it. The ball flies upward and falls near his left foot. He picks the ball up using his left hand and looks at it again. He then knocks the ball on the floor mat. He notices few pieces of the Duplo blocks on the floor. Picks one block up using his right hand and knocks both the ball and block together. He smiles and squeals. Knocks the ball and the Duplo again, and this time accompanies with his babbling. He stops knocking and then wiggles his body, as if he is dancing.
0903	He sees the colourful cloth book on the floor. He lets go of the block. He stares at the patterns in book and feels its surface using his fingers of his right hand. Then he starts babbling. He takes the book with his right hand while the yellow ball is hold tightly in his left hand. He waves and shakes the book and throws it on to the floor. He then squeals with delight and looks at his grandmother.
0904	The yellow ball is transferred from his left to his right hand. He crawls towards his grandmother while still holding the ball tight. He pulls himself up, with his left hand to hold on to the sofa and stand next to his grandmother’s leg. He spots the TV remote control on the sofa, gazes at it for a while and looks at his grandmother. Then he leans forward to grab it. The yellow ball falls from his hand and rolls towards the kid-size table. He turns back while his left hand grabs the cloth of the sofa, trying to support himself. His eyes follow the ball and sees that it goes under the table. He looks at his grandmother. Then he lets go of his grip and sits on the floor. Then he turns towards the table, looking for his yellow ball. He crawls to the table.
0906	Near the table, he turns behind him, looks at his grandmother. Then his hand is touching something on the floor and he tries to pick it up using his pincer grip. Noticing this, his grandmother calls him, goes over to where he is. There is a small piece of paper on the floor and C is trying to get hold of it. His grandmother picks it up before C does and throws it in to the rubbish bin. Then she returns to her seat. C sits and watches her action. Then he crawls towards the chair. He kneels and pulls himself up with both hands, using the chair as a support. Then he pushes the chair and cruises along for a while. He looks at his grandmother and let go off his hands, trying to stand without support. Smirking at her, he falls with his butt hit first on the floor
0910	He turns to the grandmother and starts crawling towards her. He stands up by holding onto the sofa and pulls himself up with his left hand. Then, he stretches his both hands holding the sofa material with strong grip and lifts his right thigh as if he tries to climb on to the sofa, next to his grandmother. When he fails to climb, he pulls his grandmother’s blouse, he cries a little as if he trying to inform that he wants to be carried.

INTERPRETATION

At 10 months old, C sits independently and is able to manoeuvre around within a short range by crawling and cruising along pushing the chair as support. He is also able to stand by pulling himself up with support and once in a while, he lets go off his hand for a few seconds before he falls sitting on the floor.

He loves pinching food - crawls everywhere searching for food

Cruising, with the help of a walker

(He does not use a baby walker)

C uses both his right and left hand equally the same. Based on the observation made, he used his right hand to pick up objects and left hand to support himself. It is hard to tell if he is going to be a right handed or a left handed in future.

Playing with his brother's latest construction block - LEPAO

Oh so yummy!

He loves cooking too!

C’s fine motor skills are developing tremendously well. He loves to explore and manipulate objects in his hands. These are shown from the observation where he swung and waved objects like the basket (sequence 0900) and the book (sequence 0903), feels texture where he rubs his hand on the surface of the book (sequence 0903), transfers objects like the yellow ball from one hand to the other (sequence 0904), knocks and bangs objects like the ball on the floor and with the blocks (sequence 0900), feels texture where he rubs his hand on the surface of the book (sequence 0903) as well as picks up small object like the small piece of paper with pincer grip (sequence 0906).

C tries to reach on objects that catch his eyes, whether the object is close to him or far selectively by giving a good look at the objects that he desires. Before he tried to reach for the TV remote control (sequence 0904), he gazed at it for a while. To get it, he needed to lean forward to extend the reach. At this attempt during this observation, he failed at his attempt and he got distracted with the yellow ball that fell out from his grip. According to the research done, the improvement of reaching will improve by time and by practice.

Developing his motor skills - dexterity for wrist movement skill (future writing)

Pincer grip development - for communication purpose & fine motor skills

C is very comfortable with the fist-size yellow ball as it fits his palm size properly. In this observation, he was clutching the ball tight in his hand, with the assistance of his thumb. Even though he can grasp and “throw” objects, the palmar grasp has not yet disappeared. The grasping reflex will only decline slowly when he turns 12 months old. This is one of the reasons where the ball was always in tact in his palm, until he saw the TV remote control. In fact, in the beginning session of the observation (sequence 0900), I personally believe that he did not mean to throw or toss the ball as the ball didn’t go forward, instead it flung upward. He actually swung and shook his hand and the yellow ball was release from his grip unintentionally. He also unintentionally let go of other objects in his hand because his attention had diverted to a preferred object. This is seen he immediately dropped the block as he saw the book (sequence 0903) and finally the yellow ball as he was trying to get hold of the TV remote control (sequence 0904).

His pincer gripping skill has also emerged where he tried to pick up small items that he sees within reach (sequence 0906). To execute pincer grasp, C needs to separate the forefinger from the other fingers, using his thumb and forefingers to pick up objects.

Montessori’s famous quote “The hand is the instrument of man’s intelligence” (Maria Montessori, The Absorbent Mind, 27), the child needs work with his hands and collaborate with the brain for a continuous action of learning and developing. As the child starts to move about freely, he will explore his surroundings and discover more things. “He will become fully conscious and construct a future man, by means of his activities”.

The Birthday Walk

2009-03-05T23:54:00.006+08:00

Lil C had turned 4 last February. We couldn't celebrate his birthday on the day itself (21st Feb) because of my aunt's funeral. But we celebrated in his school, a day earlier - the Montessori way.

Cuppies by Colus Cake

Lil C told me that he wanted a golf theme cake, but I thought it would be more colourful with different kind of balls. :) Thanks Dena, you're the best!

Mama was narrating about lil C's development via photo album which was compiled the night before... as lil C held a globe and walked around the "sun"

More about Montessori Birthday Walk and here

From the Photo Album:

Revisit my Montessori posts

2009-01-18T06:39:00.009+08:00

Havent been updating this blog lately.. Actually, I am looking into revamping this whole space.. Another 2009 resolution.. But not so soon.. Need to grab hold of my self and do the first things first..

Anyways, I would like to invite all of you dear readers to revisit my Montessori posts . and yes, we are considering to homeschool our two boys (in fact, we ARE doing it right now - part time kindy, full time HS.. lol!).. at least until they are 12... *rolling eyes at DH.. tee hee hee*.. need to work on this, thanks to inspiration given by the Soons . Well I cant expect things run smoothly now.. I hope that with this interesting learning period, we will enjoy each other's company and build stronger bond between us!

Guitar inherited from SIL - greng

Dont wanna miss out too! baby C seemed to be very music incline, something that I noticed esp during his musikgarten class.

Love watching his Koko draw

"Our House"

"Baby C sliding..weeee"

"Ants on the apple ah-ah-ah"

Lil C's first encounter with a real life painter

Men at work!

(The painter was kind enuff to spare few sheets of white paper for lil C to draw)

Draw me!

Now.. where's the sketches of the two boys?? I will post them once I can find them! LOL! Life is in a mess at the moment.. hahahaha

To all of you, HAPPY LUNAR YEAR 2009

Ang Pao lai le!!

Another New Year 2009

2009-01-01T15:25:00.006+08:00

Time really flies..

It has been a quiet celebration for us, Christmas & New Year. Another IL migrated, that left only few more of us stuck in KK... sniff sniff

This time, we didnt visit my parents on Chrismas Day because my niece had contracted with chicken pox. Well, lil C had his vaccine, but bb C and mama hadnt!!! So, there we were, spending Christmas morning at KKIA bade farewell to SIL and the bunch. Then, had simple brunch at Damai food stall.. We wanted to watch movie at 1B, but the babes fell asleep in the car, so we made a u-ie. At night, after dinner, we went to 1B for window shopping..

We attended Christmas Eve mass at SHC the night before, and I must give a big thumbs-up to the choirs' singing.. That really made our night for being there as early as 2 hours before the mass started. Kiasu to get good, comfy seat!

And because of SIL was leaving on Christmas day itself, we specifically had our Christmas dinner with the Vuns on the 23rd. Yeap, early boxing day that made the kids excited. We taught the boys to sing, "We wish you a Merry Christmas!" and made them repeat the song like 20 times before opening their presents.. yeah, adults can be very mean at times!

The bonding these 3 boys have..

can never be compared with anything else

Because they were leaving, we looked for compact gifts for them

Lil C got what he dreamt for! (and baby C had his two-front teeth)

While Isaac was indulging himself with his puzzle

(He even told us he didnt want anymore toys!!)

They shared the toys together

The two best buddies bidding good night, "We wont forget each other"

Latest picture taken on New Years' Eve, before we indulged ourselves with highly cholestrol food in Salut

Happy New Year Everyone!

The lil explorer

2008-12-17T07:35:00.004+08:00

Havent been blogging much, because... Oh! before that, lemme introduce my darling Cameron.

He had turned 8 months old 2 weeks ago.. Yeah, he can sit without support now, and quite steady. I am not sure about his current weight, but a month a go, he was 8.4kg. Hmm.. his weight fluctuates between 7.5-8.5kg for the past few months

He can easily get distracted with noises or things that he sees
oopps.. spoke too soon!

Hey, Cam, come back! Hmm.. he loves to go to places that his koko normally goes to... like the Easel.

Ooppsiee... yeah, he can stand up with support now. See how chunky his thighs are

Okay, now he got the alphabetic stencils. I just hope that doesnt go to his taste buds

(oh, I took the stencils away)... so, Checking for other things

and since there's nothing much for him to do there, he decides to explore other places

Hmmm... I wont go there if I were you

Okay, these explains why I have to be offline most of the time... Gotta go, peeps

More arts

2008-12-16T17:22:00.005+08:00

Yeah, no more time to blog for now.. just posting more pix.

Baby c's first art

Stamping time!

Lil C & Baby C's handprints.. cute!

Hey, that tickles, mama

While lil C continued his drawing ... (he drew the blue truck.. but Papa highlighted the outline)

Lil C's drawing has evolved! Now, his people has head and body! yeay! This is the fire engine. Can you spot the driver who is sleeping? and the fire engine tools - exthinguiser, axe, hose, etc at the back of the truck?

His version of snowman..

A card for Jesus

(He drew a house & a storeroom for J)

More drawings.. can u spot the man (driver)?

Shot On The Spot Tag

2008-12-11T14:40:00.003+08:00

Tagged by Bonnie... wanted not to do it, but being a good spot.. here's my post!

Before I post my ugly picture, here are the rules :

Take a recent picture of yourself or take a picture of yourself right NOW!
DON’T change your clothes; DON’T fix your hair… Just take a picture.
Post that picture with NO editing.
Post these instructions with your picture.
Tag 10 people to do this…

TADA!!! My ah-sou look & grengo hair-so! Blame on the pillow!

Yeah, I am and always multitasking! While doing this tag, baby C was on my lap.. tee hee hee... At the same time, trying to upload pix onto facebook.... tsk tsk tsk! Internet is very slow!

Hmm.. wanted to tag, but I am using one finger while typing this... so, skip! those who want to do this tag, dipersilakan..

He loves

2008-12-01T22:05:00.004+08:00

Jig-Saw Puzzles

Memory Card game

Singing & 'strumming' the guitar

And the lil one,

Playing Peekaboo

Koko's Duplo blocks

knock two blocks together (and tasting them)

trying out new skill

being under the chair

and under the table...

Montessori Homeschooling

2008-11-26T04:08:00.005+08:00

This is what inspires me to homeschool my children, following the Montessori approach. While others think it is unwise not to send children to school (cant blame them, 99.9% of all the people I know went thro traditional school inc me too), I feel that unschooling makes children to learn through their natural life experiences, utilising their own potential. Teachers only guide, it is the children that learn by themselves. Children are natural learners and they dont all learn the same way!

Michael Olaf Stephenson attended a Montessori school from age 2.5-5, and one semester at a Montessori elementary class. From then on, at his choice, he was homeschooled. His educational materials consisted, for the most part, products from the family Michael Olaf Montessori company which he reviewed for the catalogue, weekly visits to the library, and to many people in the community, to research the interest of the moment, daily music practice, and exploration in nature. There was no TV in the home. He was allowed unlimited time whenever possible—days, nights, weekends—to explore and chose his own path. Many experiences and study directions were offered by his parents, and periodically by other mentors and teachers, but his choices and his passions were always respected.
The parents both worked full time (mother in her home office) and spent very little time "educating" Michael. During the elementary years, they helped him make weekly work/study plans which included roughly grade level math and English suggestions, but was otherwise made up of his own choices in many areas such as music, literature, mythology, history, astronomy and the arts. There was no TV, and no video or computer games in the home as distractions and time wasters. He loved exploring and learning, and having his own interests respected.
Over the years Michael studied Suzuki piano and violin and attended the local music academy at Humboldt State University for several hours every Saturday. For some years he attended a "homeschooling school" for one or two days a week. This provided sports, group activities, and a very interesting social life often found in homeschooling communities. His best friends were not just those people of his own age, but his young students, his two older sisters Narda and Ursula and their friends, parents and grandparents, people of all ages.
For one year Michael attended a new local academic and arts high school but found that this traditional method of education broke up academic subjects into choppy, boring segments which he found frustrating, and interfered with his own research and reading, music and academic progress. Although a wonderful school it was based on competition and an adult directed curriculum which is not necessary for a self-directed motivated student. The following year, having returned to "homeschooling" he taught a jazz ensemble for this school.
At age fifteen Michael passed the CHSPE (California High School Proficiency Exam) and received an official high school certificate. Then he was allowed to take classes at Humboldt State University. Looking always for the best teachers, rather than specific subjects, he earned 35 units at HSU, in drama, math, physics, and music. During the summer of his fifteenth year Michael went to the Calgary Conservatory in Canada and became a certified Suzuki piano teacher and began teaching — both adults and children.
For years Michael earned his own money teaching music and playing with professional groups, and learned to budget it for tithe, savings, and food, clothing and other necessities. He has toured or traveled in the Northwest USA, Cuba, South America, Europe, Africa, and Asia. He graduated in three years from Brown University, interned for an environmental NGO in India, and studying law at the University of Oregon where he worked as a tutor for first year students, an editor of the law review, and in the courtroom in a pro bono law clinic, He graduated in May, 2008.

5 years

2008-11-26T01:22:00.003+08:00

Cant believe it has been 5 years since both of us exchanged our vows to live with each other for the rest of our life (hope so). .

This celebration, we decided to take a 2D1N break to a local getaway place. Well, I think lil C enjoyed it the most : the swim, the animals, the atmosphere and Baby C enjoyed just being in the room.

Shhhh! Soldiers, on the enemy's shore...

cak!

2 boys together

Soaking with papa

Brotherly love

Our lil helper returning the towels - loves to help himself

Dinner with Pongo!

Posing next to the room's hot-item - bath tub..

(sorry, no explicit pix - lol)

Morning sun at the room's balcony

Not to miss! He just cant resist the water hydrant!

I am the fire-fighter!

I am the monkey! uuu-aaa! uuu- aaaa!

See-saww!

Brroooommm! He loves the mini mega machines too!

More swimming!!!

Well, I look forward to our 25th Anniversary! tee hee.. :)

We are 5 years old

2008-11-18T06:20:00.004+08:00

Yeay, another anniversary!

Thank you Lord for the wonderful love we have together, for the beautiful boys you gave us and most of all, thank you for today!

Ah, no more wedding cake this time.. we finished it last year! hmm.. didnt do much for the past years when the kids came along... Wonder what suprise will dh give this time...

Have a wonderful day.

I love the whole world

2008-11-17T06:56:00.004+08:00

I love the mountains,
I love the clear blue skies,
I love big bridges,
I love when great whites fly,
I love the whole world,
And all its sights and sounds,

Boom-de-ah-da, boom-de-ah-da (twice)

Hahahah!!! I so love this song! So cathcy, so refreshing! Makes me appreciate my world.
Thank you Discovery Channel. I so heart you! (also great shows for my growing kids!)

No, I dont sell things, I dont even have an e-store

2008-11-12T00:34:00.005+08:00

One day, I received few emails from friends to congratulate me with my newly opened biz.. I was shocked until I found my other email received a spam mail from my yahoo account!

Blardy spammers!

I hate spammers! They hacked into my Yahoo! mail and sent spams to everyone in my address book list! grrrrrrrrr!!!

To those who received it, I am truly sorry! I finally managed to tracke it (its in my Vacation Response!) and hopefully it doesnt return.

*Roar*

Home-schooled teenager bags gold

2008-11-11T13:12:00.000+08:00

KUALA LUMPUR: Although he does not attend a regular school, it has not stopped 15-year-old Christopher Zhang Jie Tan from excelling academically.

The home-schooled teenager has made his parents proud by emerging one of the two triple gold medallists in the International Competitions and Assessments for Schools (ICAS) 2008.

ICAS is an international education assessment programme conducted annually by Education Assessment Australia, University of New South Wales (UNSW).

It saw the participation of students from 13 countries including Malaysia, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong, India and the United States. They are tested in four subjects -- Computer Skills, Science, Mathematics and English.

Zhang scored gold in the first three subjects.

"This is my sixth year taking the ICAS and the first time I achieved gold in three subjects. I find the objective questions challenging as you have to think outside the box."

Zhang said he enjoyed home-schooling as he had the flexibility to study at his own pace. He would usually study in the morning and help out at his father's tuition centre in the afternoon where he also gets to make friends.

Source : http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Sunday/National/2391033/Article/index_html

Grilling bear..?

2008-11-05T09:54:00.008+08:00

Hehehe.. I was first introduced to Bear while I was watching Oprah Winfrey sometime late last year.. yeah, he caught my attention and now I try to watch every episodeof his show, Man Vs Wild, every Monday 9pm at Discovery Channel.

Apart from his sexy abs (he was filmed naked in one of his episode in the Artic for water survival ~*kof kof* u gotta see why? *drool* - not), I think its a very educational show about survival when you have nothing in your hands.. .. yeah, its just me, loving every single facts!

Let me introduced Bear Grylls, a born survivor. IMO, I think he is a good model for growing up kids. :)

Yeah, I know.. I have no time to write! hehehe.. Okay, I dont mind receiving his latest book for Christmas... hahaha *hint hint* to u-know-who. Ehem ehem.. (Its not to late, normally ordering from the UK could take around 6weeks..)

Meanwhile, as usual, sharing pix of the kids.

He just turned 7months, love being in his mama's pouch.

Bear hug! Loving the laughter of my cheeky boys!

At this age, he loves:

peekaboo games
to bang to toys together and make 'music' with koko
to sit by himself, learning to crawl
his instant cereal food, more than mama's porridge
to hold his baby bites and feed himself
to drink water from the cup (no sippy cup)
lurves his big brother & kungkung - he show raising hand gesture to request kungkung to carry him

Do school kills creativity?

2008-10-29T11:23:00.004+08:00

You've gotta be kidding! Well.. a topic by Sir Ken Robinson.

"If you are not prepared to be wrong, you never come up with anything original"

In the national educational system, mistakes are the worst thing you can make!

2 boys together

2008-10-24T00:34:00.011+08:00

I remembered the day we brought baby C home, lil C couldnt comprehend that there was another STAR at home, which wasnt him. He got very jealous, neither DH nor me could carry baby, we could only carry lil C. So, I made a pack with lil C that if he wanted to be carried, it had to be two of them together. Then I would sing the self-invented song, "Two Boys Together". (ooo.. dont ask me to sing for you.. hehehe)

I am glad that the jealousy phase was over.. phew! Took us two weeks (or more) to convince him that even with baby came along, our love towards koko will never change.

And now, after 6 months.. here's the result!

hehehe.. He has also learnt to share his toys with baby C (well, sometimes it doesnt work.. but at least he knows..)

I think at his age now, he can understand things easily.. Montessori would say that he has gained his concious mind that he is able to reason with things around him (So friends out there. If you wanna have kids, 3 years would be the best gap)

Just some random pix of the kids. Mama ran out of time to write...

Higher Mama!!! I love this!

"Geez, I do have big tummy!" baby C in discovering himself

Nee-Naw! Nee-Naw!!

2008-10-15T00:48:00.010+08:00

Lil C is crazy over fire engines. He said that when he grows up, he wants to be the guy behind the wheels (Phew!!! Few months ago, he said he wanted to be a Garbarge Truck driver). He just love the siren, the beacon light, the adrenaline rush and the gigantic truck. He thinks its cool..

Even while walking along the road side, in the mall (basically anywhere), he gets crazy when he sees anything that relate to the Fireman's job; the water hydrant, extinguisher, hose, axe!!!

Neee Naww! Nee Naww!

Below are lil C's version of fire engine & the crews:

See any resemblance? He just love the ladder. Can you see the driver on top of the 1st wheel? hahaha

More fire fighters on the ladder, To the rescue!

This is a bit tricky! There are 3 main objects here (according to lil C).
From the left: a house on fire (rectangular shape), ambulance with an injured man lying in it & a weird looking fire engine with a tall ladder where the firemen spray water from there.

I wonder if I can bring lil C to visit the local Fire Station? Any fire fighters out there who like to make lil C's dream come true?? Meanwhile, get ready to PLUG ur ears! NeeeNawwww NeeeNaww!!!

Citizenship ~ a right or a privilege?

2008-10-14T21:48:00.005+08:00

An issue I read recently, about Education privilege, and now talks about applying citizenship/PR are not a right but privilege... Hummphh!! You think I am just being sensitive.. I AM!!

Sabahan gets citizenship back after 20 months

KOTA KINABALU: Seventy-eight-year-old Yong Lee Hua @ Piang Lin got her Malaysian citizenship back after a traumatic 20 months that turned her life upside down.

Yong, a Sabah bumiputra, who received her MyKad yesterday demanded to know why it took so long for the National Registration Department (NRD) to sort out her woes.

“I have been suffering and waiting for two years without an identity card. Now in just three minutes of turning up at the department I am given my MyKad.

“What does this mean, what have I done wrong? I want to know!” said Yong, a Sino-Kadazan from Penampangan, who was at one point screaming and crying as she received the MyKad from NRD officers.

After finally getting her MyKad and her citizenship back, she is demanding to know why the NRD took so long to sort out her woes.

Yong’s nightmare started when the NRD made her a permanent resident after she lost her MyKad in February last year.

Following this she had trouble gaining access to her bank and Amanah Saham Nasional accounts, before her plight was highlighted by Tan Sri Bernard Dompok’s party.

Home Minister Datuk Syed Hamid Albar who was at the NRD head office here for a briefing, told reporters that he had decided to consider granting the citizenship to Yong as it was a genuine case.

However she was never registered as a citizen and held a permanent resident status but was mistakenly issued a citizen’s identity card by the NRD in 1996, he said.

“It was only when she lost her MyKad did NRD officials realise that she was not a registered citizen and reverted to her status as a permanent resident. That is why she got back her permanent resident status,” he said.

Syed Hamid, in stressing that there was no conspiracy involved in the NRD decision, said that there were about 30,000 citizenship applications in Sabah involving locals.

He gave an assurance that each application would be carefully studied and genuine cases would be resolved, adding that native Sabahans were rightful Malaysians but explained that Malaysia did not allow dual citizenship.

Syed Hamid said he had directed NRD to make it clear that applying for permanent resident status and citizenship were not a right but a privilege.

Source: The Star

Read More:
DE 26/9/2008
DE 5/10/2008

Citizenship for Sabahans a right, not privilege

Tony Thien | Oct 12, 08 4:05am

The Home Ministry has no power to grant or withdraw citizenship from Sabahans as that would contravene the Malaysia Agreement and the Federal Constitution, said Sepanggar MP Eric Majimbum.
MCPX

"It is the law that determines whether a local Sabahan is a citizen and it has been agreed in the Malaysia Agreement and the Federal Constitution that all Sabahans are citizens," said Majimbum in a statement.
He was commenting on Home Minister Syed Hamid Albar's statement in The Star yesterday that he had directed the National Registration Department (NRD) to clearly state that permanent residency and citizenship were not rights but priviledges.

Syed Hamid also said his ministry had granted citizenship to Sino-Kadazan Yong Lee Hua @ Piang Lin, 78, because she was a 'genuine case'.

Yong was issued a red identification card meant for permanent residents after she lost her MyKad in February last year.
Only PR is a priviledge

Majimbum said that when Malaysia was formed in 1963, it was agreed upon that all Sabahans, native or otherwise, will automatically be made citizens.

He said that such provisions were explicitly laid down in the Malaysia Agreement and the amendments to the Federal Constitution.

Yong was therefore a citizen by operation of law, argued Majimbum.

'Therefore the question of the Home Minister "restoring" or "granting" her citizenship is therefore absolutely ridiculous as he has no power to grant or take away the citizenship of a person who is a citizen by operation of law," said Majimbum

Majimbum said that in the case of permanent residents, the minister was right in calling it a priviledge.

Source: MK

I wonder what is going on in this Bolehland???? Sigh!! *Reading these with red-bulls' eye".. Why they always think that it's belongs to them personally? Please do something for the people, we voted (~~did I?~~) you coz we thought you would!

Nursing / Baby Changing room

2008-10-02T09:30:00.006+08:00

Kewl place in KLCC. Why cant the developers of the huge malls in KK provide this facility? Social responsibility??! Check out Montessorimum's posts.

p.s If any of you readers know if there's one in KK, pls tell me. I wanna check it out! :)

Si Gebu

2008-10-01T03:32:00.000+08:00

I cant stop adoring him

"Psst... Baby C.. Look here!"
yet, he ignored me.. hmmmph! I guess Baby Einstein is more fun than Mama

Giggling by himself while watching Baby Einstein

"Ahhh.. so this is how I look like?" on discovering himself
(Actually the in-laws are furious & pantang with me letting baby looking at the mirror, but I think it is a learning process for him to know himself)

"Say Ahhhhhhhhhhh" He just love to laugh

Not the best picture, showing off with his Bitti D'lish in red

"and This is my favourite diaper.. so trim"
so gebu la him...

"Shake that booty"
Lately, he loves to lift his bum..

Last post for mama today

He cant get enough of his baby bro too

This is the most recent of them ~ love to see the boys spending time together

BabyC is turning 6months in Oct 4th.

He just loves rolling from on end to the other end of the mat.. oh yes, he does roll on the tiles too.. hahaha.. poor kid!
He is very wiggly too!
Loves getting attention, when he hears his Mama's voice, but cant see her.. he wails!!!
He calls for his brother's attention and laugh out loud when brother responds to his calls
And he definitely love his bath.

We are going balik kampung for Raya weekends. Wishing all my muslim readers, Selamat Hari Raya. Maaf Zahir & Batin

p.s. I may not be able to blog that frequent anymore.. Lately, baby has been very wakeful ~ meaning, less sleep. So most of the time I rather spend on my babies. Do drop your comments here, I will check em out when I am free.

p.s. Hubby's birthday today. Meaning more fun & more food! yam yam

God bless all of you & keep in touch.