express service

I thought my driving license would expire next week. Not to be a last-minute person, I made a note to have it renewed today. To my horror, it expired yesterday!

Ahh...the convenience of working in Midvalley Megamal. I stroll down to the post office and take a number. All of merely five minutes later, I'm out. It was that fast. And I got service with a smile too.

Maybe civil servants do deserve the raise they are getting. If I hadn't opted to leave the civil service, I would be getting about RM500 more each month which works out to roughly what I'm getting now in private practice. Nevertheless, I'm enjoying my 3-day work week (I don't think it can even be called a week!) and wouldn't have it any other way. Every weekend is a long weekend for me. Blissful time spent with my darling Joseph.

my mother's day gift

On Sunday morning, Joe woke up with a very happy smile on his face. Nana came into the room and Joe gave her a card and a hug. Then, Joe's father gave him something tied in a red ribbon and asked him to give to mama (that's me!). I untied the ribbon and opened the A4 paper to find this :

Joe's dad wrote this poem. I'm so impressed. He said he stressed over it for 2 weeks! I think it's better than flowers or dinner. I'm gonna print it out as a 8R photo and frame it up.

Mothers - celebrated!

Mother's Day is just around the corner. 3 days away to be exact! Businesses everywhere are enticing shoppers to part with their hard-earned money for flowers, soft toys, chocolates, massage chairs, spa treatments, expensive buffets and so on, as tokens of appreciation for mothers. Even though I'm not one to toe the line, (I like to beat the norm. As it is, I have yet to watch any of the Lord of the Rings trilogy or Harry Porter and have no intentions of doing so.) it's difficult to not do anything, lest my mom feels left out.

tulips are being sold for RM4.90 a stalk at Jusco

So I made her a card. For some reason, she's very sentimental about self-made cards. She's still keeping cards that I made in my teenage years. I'll get Joe to give her the card on Sunday.

I myself qualified to celebrate Mother's Day 2 years ago. This will be my 3rd Mother's day. The first one in 2005 was uneventful as I was still stuck at home in confinement, eating papaya soup and ginger chicken. The 2nd one last year, Joe was not yet talking.

This year however, Joseph can now say "Happy Mother's Day" and "Mummy, I love you." Those words are more rewarding than any gift money can buy.

Joe can recognize sunflowers

Mother's Day gifts and treats are so overated these days. I'm so lucky to get my gifts and treats on a regular basis in the form of flowers that Joe picks from the garden, and the cute stuff that Joe does and say to make me laugh. I know I am so blessed.

This mother's day, I also think of the many women out there who want to be mothers but are unable to have children of their own. Having experienced a miscarriage myself, I understand the longing and loss that others suffer.

Children are indeed gifts from God.

Motherhood is a privilege.

Happy Mother's Day, mummy.

Thank you for all that you do.

Thank you for loving Joe so much.

We love you lots!

Months and Birthdays

Joe recently learned the months of the year i.e. January to December using a Veggietales book that Joe's yee yee bought.

We also taught him whose birthdays are in which months. So when we flip open and point to January, Joe will say, "Mama birthday. And Kong kong birthday". So our conversation goes like this...

me : January...

Joe : Mama birthday. And kong kong birthday.

me : February, March...

Joe : Nana birthday.

me : April...

Joe : Jojo birthday.

me : May

Joe : May (he repeats after me)

me : June

Joe : June (parrot again)

me : July

Joe : got fireworks (because the picture shows fireworks - Americans celebrate Independence Day in July)

me : August, September...

Joe : Ah Ku birthday.

me : October, November...

Joe : Papa birthday.

me : December (he always gets more excited when it comes to December)

Joe : Yee yee birthday (always says it smiling)

Then yesterday, he pointed to the pumpkin on the December page and said, "neh....Yee yee this one"

roses for mummy

Roses arrived from USA (more like money paid in USA) from Rebecca for mummy in conjunction with Mother's Day this Sunday.
I'm pretty sure mummy was pleasantly surprised even though she always says that flowers die, such a waste of money, bla bla blah...

palm tree spoil

Almost everyday, we take Joe downstairs for some fresh air. He loves the outdoors (I should move to Australia!). Every so often, he will take his sandals and tell us "go out see bamboo tree".
The benefits of going outdoors are numerous.

Firstly, he loves the playground. (Which kid doesn't?) All that climbing up and down keeps him fit and tires him out which makes our lives so much easier when it comes to bedtime.

Secondly, it's educational. From our apartment, he can see a big lot of KL city, the roads below as well as the dusty construction site. Joe loves looking at the cranes, cement mixer, lorries, tractors, train (LRT), buses, taxis and identifying each one. He can say that tractors "dig soil". He can even point out the Telekom Tower. Joe's dad also pointed the reservoir out to him and taught him that the reservoir "got so much water!"

Not forgetting the nature around us, Joe learns about the various kinds of plants. Thus far, he's learnt to identify various plants such as bamboo tree, coconut tree, palm tree, money plant, 'christmas' tree, and any other tree that we don't know is simply called "big tree".

One day, he looked at this palm tree that has lost most of its branches.

He pointed at it and said "palm tree spoil. Jesus fix."

Then I ask him, "where is Jesus?". He pats his stomach with both hands and says, "in my heart".