My Fear

I have a fear

Fear that something bad will happen to my family back in Singapore, while I was so far away in a foreign land

Fear that I will not make it in time to say how much I love them if bad things happen

This happened before in 2005.

I received a call that my father had a stroke. He was diagnosed with diabetics.I cried. I never thought I will cry for him as I was never close to him.

I used to be this party animal who resent it when my parents always quarrel over trival things, over my grandma, over money I resent it when debt collectors came knocking on my door looking for my father. I resent it when the day before my PSLE, my whole house turned dark cos my father did not have money to pay utilities fees.

Yet when I received the news, I resent myself more for being the unfillial daughter who failed to understand my father's feelings and his constant efforts to bring us up. I resent myself for throwing nonsensical tempers to him when things go wrong. I resent myself for not around when his health deteriorates.

Since the stroke, I became closer to him. And he became happier as I gave him the most precious gift in his life- his grandson.

It happened again.

Lynn msn me this morning that my grandma is seriously ill. I did not know how serious it was until brother sms me at 6pm"Sis, grandma is in very bad shape, whole body shrinks down a lot, can't response, can'ttalk, can't eat"

Why do I receive such news again? Granny is 85years old, and never had any major illness.

During my last trip back home, she was still playing happily with LeLe and Meranda.She still helped to feed Meranda.

It is just too sudden to me.

My grandma had a tough life. She lost her hubby during the 2nd world war when she was pregnant.My father was thus born fatherless. She slogged hard to raise my father as a single mum.

She was always at loggerheads with her daughter-in-law.

I was never granny's favourite grandchild, as she shows favouritism to my brother. But still, she brought me up. Grandma gave me a jade pendant days before I got married. She said to me in hokkien"婷婷，你要结婚了， 奶奶没有钱买东西给你， 只有这块玉，你要好好收好， 现在在店里买的玉没有老玉好"

…

Hours later, brother called me to inform that she is hospitalized, not in danger, but she has serious diabetics and urinal infection which affects her overall health. I hope nothing will happen to her. I put on a smile in front of my kids as I don't wish my tears to affect them. LeLe asked "妈妈，你为什么哭？谁打你了？"

God, please save her. Please don't let any mishap happens. I still want to see her on my next CNY trip. Meranda will be then old enough to call her "Ah Zhou". I want my 奶奶 to play with LeLe and Meranda. I still want to hold her wrinkled hands and call her 奶奶 again. God , Please give me this chance. I fear of losing this chance.

Pizza

They named it the Bang Street. I have absolute no idea why BANG...
It is supposed to be the F&B level of Grade A office building in CBD.

A few google searches define BANG as A sudden loud noise, Noise made by Bump ,猛敲；砸 etc.. Maybe they want to create impactful Bang for the opening.

Anyway, they organized a Make The Pizza Family Day last weekend. I brought LeLe there, hoping it will stir up his cullinary interest and he can learn to cook for mummy next time(just like his dad!)




Look Mum! I made this!



Hmmm...smells good yah?

It's never too young to start learning...

I can walk?

I have no idea why daddy mummy and ayi were making a fuss of me yesterday.They go'一二一‘ and kept taking pix videos of me...Is walking that important? I still prefer to crawl leh..

Halloween

Finally..Halloween Day is here! oh yes, I managed to get the Carebear costume for Meranda.;)

We organized a dinner @ Rumi.It's the first time I arrange a dinner for so many people - 19 adults and 10 kids!

Everything went smoothly except for the initial table arrangement - a super long table for All the adults and another table to cater for the kids only! How are the babies going to feed each other huh?? After 10 minutes of me 'teaching' the waiters how to do the proper way, the restaurant manager came and apologized for all inconvenience.

Lucky the dinner was reasonably decent and the kids had fun.


QooFamily get dressed up!


Groovy Mummies


With my most 八卦 friend and her girl

Meet The Parents

Yesterday was Meet The Parents Day at LeLe’s childcare.

Most of the mummies I met in China agree with me that it is very difficult to find a school with decent professional teachers, especially the “Laowai Teachers” .(If you miss my previous complaint, please refer to http://qoofamily.blogspot.com/2008/06/laowai-english-teachers-in-china-sigh.html)

After our bad experience with a so-called international school, we decided to send him to Oxford Baby. It is a local private bilingual childcare. At first I was skeptical about it, as I worry about the teaching standard. However LeLe has been enjoying himself everyday, keeps sharing with me about his schoolmates and Teacher Daniel.

Attending today's session tells me why.

Teacher Daniel is passionate about teaching. The kids love him, so do the parents!

He told me that he is impressed that LeLe can recognize and read simple keywords, such as Brother, School , Father, etc which is rare for kids studying here. I'm glad to hear that. Our constant daily efforts of reading books to him have paid off;)

For parents who do not believe in blowing RMB120k per year (that is more than a year of Uni fees!)on international school education for a 4 years old, and do not mind your kids studying in an environment with mostly local Chinese students, I recommend Oxford Baby. It is not tagged with a well-known brand, but at least I can feel the teachers are serious about their work.

See the girl in Pink longsleeve? That is LeLe’s favourite. He likes girls with big eyes, not one that looks like his mum

Bubble Bath

We let the kids have bubble bath together and they really enjoyed it! They will soak for at least 20 minutes and refused to get out.
Pro: They helped wash each other's hair. Mummy does not have to lift a finger
Con: Meranda starts her sex education ..err..too young. She pointed at gor gor's little thingy and gave me a cheeky grin.

What to wear for Halloween?

Halloween is approaching. Before I’m a mother, dressing up as witches or monsters is not my type of fun. But now as a mum of two, I started to search for costumes weeks before the ‘big-day’.

What should I dress the kids as? Skeleton? Goblins? I surf good old Taobao and found some interesting costumes. I love the Carebear suit a lot, too bad it does not come in Meranda’s size.

Finally I decided to dress her as a Rat, since she is born in the year of Rat. LeLe shall be dressed as pirate, though some say he is too pretty and fair-skinned boy to be a pirate. ;o Shall apply some charcoal on his face. Haha!

Su-En and I decided to plan dinner at some kids-friend restaurant, instead of signing up for some overpriced ‘expatriate kids’ party’. Will post more pictures of the actual day.