I DON'T WANT TO...

...GO TO SCHOOL!!!! That has been Jon's mantra for the last one plus week.

Before that, Jon had been home for three weeks, two being quarantine for hand, Foot Mouth Disease (coz Jill had it too) and one week being the Sep school hols. Maybe he enjoyed being at home too much, waking up late, playing with me and his cousin, and playing in the garden. There was the Hari Raya hols during that period, which meant that daddy was home for two whole days to play with him too.

It didn't help that last Thu was another public hol (Malaysia Day). Another day away from school where we spent the morning going out for brekkie, then to the market, and then the rest of the morning was spent putting up lanterns at the patio (a good way to occupy Hon while Jill can take her morning nap in peace).
Every morning for these last two weeks, Jon threw tantrums or kicked up a big fuss about:
- washing up: "wo bu yao chong liang" translated "I don't want to bathe". Had to trick him into the bathroom by asking him to wash his hands (which he likes)

- changing into his nursery t-shirt" "I don't want school (sic) t-shirt....and we're not even taking about a full set of uniform! So, in the end I would let him wear a couple of white t-shirts (as plain as possible to resemble his school t)

- the car route. Jon knows the way to his nursery, which is make a turn right upon exiting our home. Take the next left and the second right (yes, it's less than 400m away). He would even warn Simon, "No school, ah! Bye, bye, school!" When we reach the last turn and Jon saw that his daddy isn't going to go straight, we would be greeted by screams and tears...real tears streaking down his face complete with red veins popping out on his fair face. Wow...very intense drama, OK?

- and getting down from the car when we reach his nursery. Getting into the car was not a problem, coz Jon likes car rides. He kept telling us, "No school ah?", "We go che mian ah (go eat noodles ah)?" And after Simon was away the weekend fishing, Jon changed the statement to, "We go fishing ah?"

Thankfully, when his teacher came to the car to get him, he would meekly follow her, although there were a couple of times he cried and had a face full of tears and would be feebly carried off by her.

We deduced the following:
- Jon loves being at home to play with his toys and cousin (no, mei mei is still too young to play with him)
- He doesn't want to separate from us (his parents)
- He is rebellious (according to grandma)

I don't think it's the last reason. We will keep pressing on sticking to our daily routine, and to bring him to school regardless of his tantrums. Coz if we give in and turn the car back after reaching the nursery, Jon will know he can bring about his desired outcome with those huge tears. Come on, it wasn't easy getting him ready and into the car. Do you think I would give up just that few metres away from that nursery door?

And this has gotten me thinking....what will happen when Jon gets a whole month break in Dec? I am so sending him to childcare, otherwise he will never go to pre-kinder in Jan!!!

Let's end this post with more photos of how we spent Malaysia Day last Thu, putting up lanterns at the patio.

Jon who's never seen without his tool box, telling me he wanted to "cut, cut, cut" i.e. he wanted to cut the fishing lines to tie the lanterns

Pretty pleased with the end result

Jon insisted on taking a photo of us with my camera

and having ice cream in the hot afternoon. Jillian had a long morning nap, and disturbed Jon when he was taking his afternoon nap. So we brought Jon out so Jill can have her afternoon nap in peace.

Jon taking just the wafer roll. He doesn't like ice cream by the scoop...too cold. Guess we will stick to his mini cones

Jon can be a darling when he's not freaking out about school...or when he hits the girls...or throws things. Another post for another day...or night, actually, when the kids are asleep and I get into my own time. And if I manage to wake up after accompanying Jon to bed.

Mini's the way to go

Inspired by a mini album made by Pooi, I decided to make a mini about Jonathan going to nursery this year. Yeah, a milestone and proud mama decided to do a simple mini with a 4R book I bought from Muji. It looks like something Maya Road would some up with right?
Photos went on the right, while on the left, I used October Afternoon papers; Jenni Bowlin's mini Bingo cards or journaling spots, and a few embellies.

Weekend Fun

It was the end of the one week school hols, and it was wonderful that the Hari Raya hols coincided with it as Simon had more time with the kids.

We had a play date on Friday with Bradley and Mason. It's the first time Jon had a play date at home and he was super duper happy. Jilly baby must have known it was play date coz she had a super short nap and joined in the fun in her walker.

But there were times when Jon was possessive over his tricycle and Mason didn't want to let go. But thankfully, parents and kids were all right about fighting and playing together, although we were telling the kids, more like Jon, to play nicely. Bradley and Jillian were playing, but in a world of their own, since they're still so little.

The kids had noodles and the adults had yummylicious hot dogs with sausages from Porky Pork (yes, that's really the name of the shop!) and potato salad. And we managed to take a photo of the kids together (that's Mason and Bradley's mom, Mabel. Jill was already napping when this was taken).
Luckily, kids generally don't bear grudges and Mason said after he left that "It was so much fun." and wanted to go to Jonathan's house again.

On Saturday, we brought Jonathan to the market and he saw ducklings and chickens sold there. He squatted down and watched them, but declined to touch them. He didn't have any soft spot for the little ones, which was good coz we could walk away without buying one! I didn't bring my camera but did take a couple of photos of the animals with my mobile phone for Jon. After that, we went to look at lighting to get a cost estimate for down lights for the house. Didn't see any nice drop lighting for the dining or kitchen counter top. Hmm, a trip back to SG or even to the Bangkok International Gift and Household Fair?? heehee, how I wish.

On Sunday evening, we brought Jonathan to the suspension bridge but it was under repair. We walked to one part of the park where there was nobody at the playground (coz everyone was at the water play area and the other huge playground). Does this look like an oil rig?
Asked Jon if he wanted to go to the 2nd level, and he said yes. but lazy to climb up...so daddy had to help. brave boy didn't even asked us to accompany him up on his first time

squeals of delight from Jon = squeals of delight from me coz that means he doesn't have a phobia of heights like me!

He loved the slide so much and kept running up the stairs to Simon, got carried up, then slid all the way down. Then repeat, and repeat.

A simple slide can bring such joy and happiness to a child. no need for expensive toys.
My super hot & sweaty boy. I asked him if he wanted to go up the tower...he said,"No." Good, coz it's time to go home for dinner. We managed to entice him away from the slide with a colourful windmill.

But when we're going home, we stopped by the supermarket to get something, and Jon decided to throw an tantrum and didn't want to be strapped in. Aiyoh, after much screaming and shouting (more from him and some from me), I went over to his seat and brought him out of the car and told him we would have to leave him if he continued like that. Coincidentally, Simon drove the car forward a little to let another car come out of the lot, and Jon thought Simon was going to drive off without him. So he was willing to come back into the car and sit at the back with me.

I knew he was hungry, but that didn't set off the being strapped in the seat. It has happened a couple of time before. This is so different from when he was younger. I used to pride myself for training a boy who could be strapped in his car seat. maybe it's time to get a bigger child booster seat?

Indoor Tree Houses

I had posted about indoor slides earlier. Now let's talk about indoor tree houses.

I had mentioned to Simon about building a 2-D tree for the kids' room. Nothing fancy, just get a carpenter to cut out a tree shape and paint it. From the leaves, we can hang some nice items like soft toy animals or hot air-balloons.

Then Simon shared an article about Beatrice Chia and Mark Richmond spending S$4,000 to build a tree house in their living room for their son when he was 9-months young. There were negative comments to that article. I shall not comment on how people spend their money. It's more important how values are imparted.

Wait till you see how Kidtropolis built their magic tree house. A company that specialised in furniture and interior space solutions for children, their tree house is far out! Their photos are copyrighted, so do check out the tree house here.

Man, these people are creative! They can do wagons for beds, cobbler nursery, carousels bedrooms (this will cost way more than S$4K). I am in awe of their craftmanship and imgination. Their clients must have super deep pockets to get their kids' imagination rolling, and in style.

Maybe, we will just build a small wooden shed of a tree house in an actual tree hor? Since we're living in Malaysia, some more in Sarawak where people think we live on trees. But first, we will need to find a big and mature tree, which unfortunately are lacking here in Miri.

Or, I will just settle for this cute tree decal from e-glue, France.

Building of new home begins

Simon informed me that the building of our new home begins. I am so excited...but not relishing the headaches of building a home. Already we're argued over the drawing plans, I mean, we are not experts at building houses, and there's sure to be changes. It's not that we change on a whim or fancy, but out of practicality. Just considering the 2,385,791 decisions that need to be made, from position of electrical points to locations of washing machines.

Front view of the land

But at one point, we have to bite the bullet and go, otherwise Jonathan may be primary school by the time the home is built. Simon, being the civil engineer and project manager for this huge project (small house but huge to me, a Singaporean who has lived most of my life in apartments), will be needing more fishing trips to de-stress, coz engineers don't like changes on things decided. "It'll impact a lot of things you know?"

View from the back of the land

When we stayed at our first home, a HDB apartment in Singapore, we just had to contend with colour schemes, the kitchen, the wardrobe in the master bedroom. Everything else was bought loose, coz we can't afford interior designers and customised or built-in carpentry.

Now, we had to think about exteriors as well as interiors, size of rooms (we're going to be staying here for a long time, no way we're going to build or move to another home). Work was also delayed coz we waited some 6months to get our land lease extended so we can get a longer bank loan. And let's not even begin to talk about materials.

But there's also the fun part when talking about our new home. I love pouring over interior design magazines and trawling the Internet for design ideas. So, ready or not, here we go building our new home!

Jonathan can cycle today!

This evening, Jon told me he wanted to get on his bicycle, a birthday gift from grandpa. He couldn't wait for me to put Jillian down and tried to get on the bike. He promptly fell down with the bike on top of him.

After comforting him and helping him get back on, Jon cycled on his own in the living room. We had pushed him on the bicycle a couple of times before today, and haven't done so for the last couple of weeks. Such a proud moment.


I was happy coz this justified my choice of a real bicycle and not a kiddy one. When we went to the bicycle shop to pick a bicycle, Jon kept going for the kiddy bicycles. They were short enough for him to get on them without any help. But I wanted a sturdy and real bicycle for him. The last three weeks, Jon didn't even noticed the bicycle and I was wondering if it was going to be an expensive toy chucked aside...just a flavour of the week.

Today is the first day of the Sep mid-term one-week holidays. Jon had been cooped up for the last two weeks, so I brought him out to the garden in the morning as Jillian took her nap. How timely, as grandma had harvested some longans. So Jon and I helped picked the longans off their stems. We collected half a box worth of longans. There were hundreds of them. We gave one bagful to a friend and another to Aunty Catherine.

Made Jon do a couple of chores: fill the water bowl for the doggies and visit and play with Tigger (who's coping fine since the passing of Tiger in January this year).
Clowning around. A hose is not what it seems...could also be a weapon. Yes, Jon is into guns... exposure to Ben 10 and Super Heroes League.

Craft session 1 - shapes & card

Jonathan likes to paste more than he likes to colour. So I printed this off the Internet. I cut all the coloured shapes and Jon pasted them on the coloured keylines. He liked doing this, and even ordered me which shape to cut first. Bossy little fellow....

Then I drew shapes on the pre-drawn circles & rectangles, and circles & triangles to show people. And I tried to get him to follow. After drawing on one, he decided he didn't want to continue. So I drew dots and asked him to draw lines following the dots. He did that for a while before asking me to draw the rest. He also didn't want to colour the people. But after I cut them, he helped me paste them on the card. He really like the cutting and pasting. Well, this is the first of many craft sessions, I hope. Coz I have to occupy him for the rest of this week on home quarantine, plus next week of school hols.

PS: Do you think he will pick up scrapbooking from me?

A mini book of J & J's birthdays in 2010

Thanks to Pooi for giving me this lovely mini album, it provided me the impetus to fill it with records of Jonathan and Jillian's birthdays..which would otherwise be recorded like 2 years later!

Jonathan's birthday with Spidey theme.

And sweet Jill's special day

Jillian's got HFMD, and Hubs has ulcers

Jillian has HFMD too. She had fever on Sat and that's why she slept for 4hrs in the morning and another 4.5hrs for her afternoon nap till 7.30am! And Simon discovered he had ulcers that day. He suspected he might have passed HMFD to Jill as he had kissed her on Fri. (Tip: no kissing of any kid if another kid in the home is sick.)

Well, it was a matter of time before Jill got it, coz cousin Mabel, who stays with us caught it on Fri night.

The first two days of a child having HFMD are the hardest. The fever made Jill sleep initially. But as the temp got higher at the end of the day, her cries got louder too. Then the onset of ulcers. Boy, she can really cry! Compared to Jon who was whining softly in pain. Jill just refused to sleep and would scream when we carry her to the bedroom or study (where she naps in the day). Even if we're to take things and were't intending to make her sleep/nap.

So off to the doc we went on Mon, and her rash on her buttocks were the raised type - blisters! They look red, raw and painful.

Jillian and I slept in the study for two nights coz I didn't want her crying to wake Simon, Jon or Mabel. Was like a zombie, but still I was grateful for power sleeps about 45mins to an hour on the first night. I was just worried about her.

Four days and nights have passed and Jill's better. Drinking her milk and eating her rice cereal and porridge normally without crying by day 3. It does get better, and I am glad to be back in our bedroom to sleep tonight (and blogging this entry).

Apart from caring for the kids, watching them like a hawk (whatever that goes into Jill's mouth has to be put aside to be cleaned), and disinfecting toys and play areas, I managed to print and scrap some photos into Pooi's album for the kids. Didn't managed to take photos this afternoon coz Jon was woken up by Mabel's loud antics and we had to take a drive so that Jill will get her much need sleep after two nights of disturbed sleep and without afternoon naps. Hope I can take photos tom.

As the two younger ones have HFMD, Jon has to stay at home this whole week too. And next week is the one-week school hols. Jon would have been home for three straight weeks! Must be creative in entertaining him and keeping him occupied!

Lastly, I found these insane slides inside homes....yes, Indoor Slides! From a house in Indonesia, we have this slide that allows the kids to slide from the second floor into the kitchen! This is how the slide looks like from the outside. No problems waking up their kids for school, for sure!Check out this wooden spiral fun! It looks well used from the marks at the bottom of the slide.If I had these, no problems entertaining Jon for 3 straight weeks. Maybe, he'll even asked to be home schooled, if he knows the term. And we'll be very popular neighbours!