So you think your teeth are clean?

From a very young age, my mother has always emphasized the importance of brushing our teeth well. At 32 years of age, I have a good set of teeth totally free of decay and filling, (that's right! Not a single restoration.) not because I am a dentist but because of my mother.

Now that I know more than her about the importance of good dental hygiene, I can't stress it enough to my own kids.

this is the amount of plaque I can scrape off from the lingual surfaces and from between my teeth AFTER brushing AND flossing!

As a baby, I used to have to clean Joseph's teeth while he slept. I used my extra long finger nail (on the pinky finger) to scrape off the plaque! Certainly this is not taught in dental school. But because he refuses to have anything stuck in his mouth, this was the only way to ensure clean teeth.

Now that he is older, he understands why he needs to brush his teeth. I also tell him that if he doesn't brush clean, lizards and cockroaches will come out at night to hunt for the food debris in his mouth.

He is also very disciplined with junk food. Whenever he receives a packet of twisties or cheezels or whatever else, he will keep until he has got my permission to eat. And if I say "no", he doesn't eat it.

At 5 years of age, he has yet to eat a single lollipop. Nope, he is not deprived!

Joy-Anne is still not very compliant with brushing. She lies still for 5 seconds and then starts turning away. Five seconds is not sufficient for a thorough brushing. At 2 years old, she already has 2 restorations and many more hypocalcified surfaces.

And she does not seek my permission with food given by other people. Just last week, our cg leader's daughter was giving out chocolates after dinner. And before we knew it, Joy had her entire face and both hands covered with chocolate!!! Apparently, Ashlyn asked Joy if she could eat and Joy happily said, "YES!"

So that's why, I would rather have her screaming and kicking now as I brush her teeth, than screaming and kicking in the dental chair when she has a toothache.

Loving and laughing

I'm totally in love with my little princess. She always has some wisecrack to make me laugh.

Two days ago I took her with me to the nearby Carrefour at The Sphere (where they have this cool basket that the kids love to pull like a rickshaw). As she walked pulling the 'rickshaw' basket, she suddenly stopped, put her pointer finger to her right cheek and said, "Let's just stop and think".

Huh? Think? A 2-year-old can stop and think?

See my huge tummy. Mummy says it's a ball!

Then last night, just before falling asleep, she rolled over, looked at me lovingly and said, "Mummy, why are you so pretty?"

Smiling, I replied, "Joy-Anne, you are more pretty!"

I like to sayang my bear-bear.

She's also capable of imitating Joseph's expressions. He has this bad habit of getting angry and pulling a grumpy face over trivial things. So I refuse to entertain his tantrums.

Then I ask Joy-Anne, "Show me kor kor's grumpy face..."

And she does this :

This is her 'cute-cute' face :


And this is her happy face :
I think she's over 16kg now and I'm really not sure this high chair can take her weight. Probably because her breakfast intake is double of Joseph's! And she doesn't vomit like he does.

Happy Pictures for Stress Relieve

It has been a very stressful weekend for reasons I can't explain. I just feel so drained and exhausted. I want to run away and hide in some cave.

So since that is not a possibility, the next best thing is looking at pictures of my adorable smiling babies. Here are some taken randomly over the past week or so.

big brother taking care of the princess sister

Joy says : I'm taking Matthew for a walk.

Oh oh.... she's too young to be watching her weight.



this is Nana's work....I'm just the photographer.

smiling to erase my stress...

And finally....Joe and his own version of Adventure Zone...

Experimenting with Hairstyles

It's almost 3 months since my last haircut and I'm starting to itch again about whether to cut or not cut. The ends can still curve in if I bother to blowdry it properly after a wash. And I'm toying with the idea of letting it grow longer. But the amount of hair that drops all over the house bothers me.

Then I stumbled across this website that lets you experiment with make up and hairstyles. It's really cool.

Just for the fun of it.... here's what I tried.

#1. Similar to my bob, but a little shorter and a bit too wide.

#2. Too mak-datin-ish...

#3. Too non-patient-friendly. I wouldn't be able to work.

#4. Cleopatra...?

#5. I quite like this. Except for the colour. (Up till this point, I didn't realize you can change the colour.)

#6. Rebonding...?

#7. Short bob - doesn't suit me.

#8. My kids may not recognize me.

#9. Who likes this style???

#10. Bangs. Nope, not for me.

#11. Straight and sleek.

#12. Bob : good. Center-parting : Not good.

#13. So should I dye my hair? With highlights?

I think I'll just keep my current style. Just not feeling adventurous nor willing to spend now.

The Marry Card - by Joseph

The entire church is currently going through a series of sermons on The Ten Commandments. While Pastor Daniel preaches it from the pulpit, Children's Church is also teaching it week by week.

So last Saturday, we did Commandment #7 - Do Not Commit Adultery.

Realising that it will be tough to explain adultery to children aged 3-5 years, the teaching team decided to teach about the importance of a strong family unit instead. We were roped in to do some acting to illustrate the point.

It was a very simple skit : boy meets girl, girl meets boy. Boy likes girl, girl likes boy. Boy and girl gets married, have children, stay true and faithful to each other - happy family.

After we got home that evening, Joseph drew this for me. He said that our acting (he acted too!) inspired him to draw a 'marry card' for me.

I thought it was so cool! He even remembered to draw our wedding rings!

I should frame this up and someday present it back to him on his wedding day.

DUMC Membership at last

We were received into DUMC Membership at Sunday Celebration this morning. All this while, we have been idle members of Seremban Wesley Methodist while actively serving in DUMC. I can't remember exactly but it must have been about at least 4 to 5 years since we joined a DUMC cell and slowly got drawn into Children's Church. In any other local Methodist church, transfer of membership would require a mere handshake with the pastor. But in DUMC and DUMC alone, you would still be required to go through their requirements before you can have that handshake. This is in spite of the number of years you have been a Christian and a serving one too.

The first step is to join a cell. That was not a problem. Then one has to attend either My New Life class (2hours x 7 sundays) or Basic Doctrine 1 (4 hours x 2 saturdays). Since we already spend so much time in church every weekend, we decided to take the Basic Doctrine test which would exempt us from either of the classes, if we passed.

So that's what we did last October, and I'm glad to say that we passed decently.

The next step was to attend the Baptism and Membership Encounter Weekend. This is a weekend away (Saturday morning till Sunday afternoon) and a very refreshing one indeed.

After all that, you get to be interviewed by your Zone Pastor.

And finally....this morning.... we have front row seats with our names on them!!!

Nana was back in Penang so we decided to bring the kids up with us. I could have left Joe at Little Lamb but Joy will certainly make a fuss. Thankfully, the church staff were understanding enough to allow us to bring them up on the condition that they stick close to us and not run around.

Joseph was most well-behaved. Joy-Anne....well, let's just say she looked quite cute trying to twirl her skirt on stage in front of 2000 people.
Pastor Daniel came up to us and shook Joy's hand while telling her that "it has taken your papa and mama a long time to become members". Pastor Kee also said to Daalin "Now only you become member? Yau mou kau chor ah...?" And most everyone else has exclaimed, "You mean you're not members yet???"

Well, I guess it's always better late than never.

Joseph's Blessed 5th Birthday - celebration at home

Back home, Joe wanted to skip his nap. But I explained that he had to recharge his batteries so that he could have a good time when we had his dinner party.

I let him open some presents before he napped. First was this present that came home in his school bag. I'm not sure if it's from his teacher or from the kindy. Haven't had the time to ask her.

Next was a present from Nana.

Nana very thoughtfully wrapped up some simple colouring books for Joy-Anne too so that she wouldn't feel left out.

After he woke up from his nap, I gave him this present from Papa and Mama.
Truth be told, I don't remember where this came from or how long it's been sitting in the top shelf of my cupboard. I was clearing out my cupboard last week when I found it and showed it to Joe. He looked at it then told me "this will do" for his birthday present. So I gave it to him unwrapped because he said we should save paper.

Next was a present from Evan.

He was actually very eager to play with his new toys but I told him he had to drink his milk first. And his reply really pleased me. He said, "Ok. I will obey what you say."

After playing for a while, he wanted to make his aeroplane cake. He told me he wanted to make a aeroplane cake and use his yummy biscuits for the wings, and use peanut butter to stick them together.
So I bought a swiss roll and let him have some creative fun!

Ah Mah, Ah Kong, Ah Ku, Kim Kim and Ah Chor came for dinner. We had Joe's favourite foods - Dominos Pizza, fried rice and hokkien mee. Nana made coleslaw while Ah Mah cooked devil chicken and brought roast duck.

After dinner, we took out the cakes.

But before cutting, we made Joe take photos with everyone.

He obediently smiled and posed with everybody.

But after a dozen photos, he got fed up and said, "Hey....this is not a birthday celebration if you don't sing to me and let me cut my cake!"

So we got down to business and let him cut as he pleased.

After the first cut, he told me he wanted to cut a triangle.

Initially, I didn't quite understand what he wanted to do.

Then I realized he cut the cake into wedges for serving!

And so neatly and evenly too!!!

When he had served a piece to everyone, he indulged himself with cake - on his face!

Oh well, it's his birthday. He can do as he pleases!

Five years if half a decade! I'm pleased with the way he has grown. Of course there are times when he makes me want to pull my hair out and give him a good spanking. But most times, he's quite obedient and well-behaved. He's a very thoughtful son and loving, caring brother.

Joseph, we pray that you will grow up to know Jesus, love Jesus, serve Jesus and walk with Him faithfully all the days of your life.