Joseph's Blessed 5th Birthday - celebration in school

We celebrated Joseph's 5th Birthday yesterday. He was a very happy boy indeed. Prior to his very special day, I had already asked him what he would like. But he kept saying "I don't mind". Either he doesn't quite know or he's a very accommodating and undemanding boy.

So anyway, I surfed around for creative cakes and stumbled upon a picture of a pirate ship cake which didn't look too difficult.

I emailed the photo to a friend of mine and asked if she could do it. This wonderful friend (thank God for her!) actually went to the trouble of purchasing a new cake tin of the right size and experimented with it once, before making the actual cake on Tuesday.

She made it double-layered so that it's about 7 inches high. Then she even made blue and green jelly for the sea and iced a anchor and a ladder. Too bad the ladder got smudged against the box while on the way from her place to mine on Tuesday night. At home, I added the deco on my own. Joy-Anne looked like she also wanted such a fantastic-looking cake. But she still proclaimed that it was kor kor's cake. So we brought the pirate ship cake to Joe's kindy on Wednesday morning and waited in the pantry for the kids.
After they washed their hands, Joseph's class came into the pantry and everybody oohed and aahed at his cake.

They sang "Happy Birthday" to him



and then took a group photo.
Blowing the candle however was a little bit of a challenge because it was in front and he couldn't reach it.
So we had to turn the cake a little to help him.
Then for some unknown reason (at least unknown to me), when his teacher got the class to line up to go back to their classroom, Joe's best friend stood rooted to the floor next to him. So I took a photo for them.

Then we took some family photos before cutting up the cake.

Serving cake and helping the kids with their drinks kept us very busy during the entire 30-minute recess. I gave the children Dutch Lady grape-flavoured milk. It's something like vitagen (I think) but doesn't have to be kept cold which I felt was ideal because Joe starts coughing if he takes anything out of the fridge.

Later when I fetched Joseph home from school, he was a very happy boy. As soon as he got into the car, he told me he was very happy we went to school for his birthday and that his friends liked his cake.

I'm so glad it takes so little to make him so happy!

Frog-Dancing and Croaking

Four-eyes at Five

Joseph will be 5 years old tomorrow. Hooray!!!

So following his teacher's advice, and subsequent to the optical shop visit, I brought Joseph to Tun Hussien Onn Eye Hospital (Thoneh) last Wednesday. We had lunch at Dream Cafe after school and then it was a short drive to Thoneh. At the registration counter, the lady advised us to go to the Optometry section first to have his eyes checked because the doctor would refer the same.

So we registered at the Optometry section. While waiting our turn, all the staff kept asking Joseph to show them his smiley face hairstyle.

We didn't have to wait long even though it was their lunch hour. The staff go on lunch break on shifts so that they do not close totally for lunch. I thought that was just great!

Although feeling apprehensive because he didn't know what to expect, Joe was very cooperative. He did as he was told and obeyed the very nice lady who tested his eyes.

After all the testing, the lady told us that Joe's eye power is really low and it was also very straightforward hence there was no need to see a doctor. Since we were there, I decided to just have his spectacles made there.

We tried on a couple of frames and Joe looked really depressed. When I asked him what he thought (looking in the mirror), he said, "Don't look like Joseph Tan anymore".

It cost RM150 in all (inclusive RM20 for the checking). And it was ready the very next day. He was much more receptive when we got the glasses. I think he looks pretty cute. Joy-Anne said, "Kor kor look like Arnold!" (Arnold is one of the characters in The Magic School Bus and he wears glasses).

So I've asked his teacher to kindly remind him to wear in class and to keep it properly in the case when he does not need it.

According to the optometrist, he only has to wear them in class. He can be just two-eyed when he's playing around.

Funny Faces

This is a backdated post. I took these photos some time back.
Joseph drew some funny/happy/sad faces and then imitated them for me to photograph.
His current hobby is drawing. He will look for things to draw, and draw just about anywhere.

Good things he knows very well he shouldn't draw on my walls.

Doing The Freeze

One of the many things the kids do at Little Lamb is this - dancing!

And this has got to be their favourite...

I love watching them dance and jump.

Nevermind if they break the bed. Then I'll have a reason to get a new one!

The Return of the Four-Eyed Horror

Joseph's kindy teacher recently alerted us to the fact that Joe might have some problems with his vision. Being one of the taller ones, he is seated at the back. But he gets up to walk to the front in order to look at the white board when asked to copy from it.

As much as I'm horrified, I'm not surprised. In fact, it brought back memories of myself wearing spectacles from the very tender age of 4! So we brought him to an optician for a free eye test. She told us that we would need to see a doctor for a more accurate assessment but still obliged us with the free computerized test.

This here is my result :
Still almost perfect, 4.5 years after I had LASIK done, after wearing spectacles for 23 years!!!


And this here is Joseph's results :
The right column is for astigmatism while the left is for short-sightedness. The nice lady advised us to bring him to Tun Hussien Onn Hospital for an accurate prescription.

I suppose it isn't all that bad. Lots of people wear spectacles. It's not a disease!

But what an inconvenience it's going to be. If Joe is anything like his Ah Ku, I know he's going to lose and break his spectacles a dozen times before he's old enough to have the LASIK procedure. And in the mean time, I'm not sure if the glasses are even going to stay on his face...unless maybe I superglue them there?

A ridiculous ruling

This letter I wrote to The Star was published yesterday (Sunday 4 April 2010).

You can read the letter online here.

While some kindys implemented the new ruling at the beginning of the school year, Joe's kindy has graciously delayed the implementation till 3 weeks ago, after the March mid-term break.

Needless to say, Joe has been late for school everyday. But much to my surprise, he is not the last to arrive. There are children who arrive as late as 8.45 am when school starts at 8am!

We put the children to bed at 9plus and lights are off by 9.30pm. They roll around trying to sleep and finally doze off between 10 - 10.30pm. Yup... they can roll like a cement mixer for up to an hour before falling asleep! Nine hours later, waking up at 7am is still torture.

If I had any thoughts of sending Joy to kindy next year (when she is 3 yrs old), they have now been banished to the ends of the earth! Even though class starts at 8.30am for 3 and 4-year-olds, they would still have to go with the older sibling who starts at 8am. It's too much torture for a child so young. I pity the December baby in that position. Imagine if Joy had been born merely 3 weeks earlier, she would be in the 3-year-old class NOW! Thank God she's a January baby.

Malaysia's Education System is already beyond crap. And now they have nothing better to do than to torture pre-schoolers so that they have to wake up at the crack of dawn and rush to school without a decent breakfast. I really want to give the official who came up with this ruling a huge piece of my mind because he doesn't seem to have a working one of his own.

An Egg-citing Easter at Little Lamb

So while the Daalin and Joe visited the Orang Asli settlement in Bentong, I was busy on duty at Little Lamb. I was quite happy with how it turned out. The kids thoroughly enjoyed the worship part especially where they got to shout "NO!" after the first line of the song "God's not dead... (NO!) He's alive..."

I used a rope trick to talk about sin and explain why Jesus had to die. And then I had the scenery of Golgotha and the tomb to teach the kids about the crucifixion. (Thanks to the big box that the new 32" LCD tv came in, I cut it open and did some drawing. Also cut a hole for the tomb and made a big stone that is movable, fixed with a twistie). Finally, I used an intact empty egg shell (poked 2 holes and drained the egg out earlier) to explain the significance of the Easter Egg. And I cracked it open while they gasped in surprise to find it empty!

Yup...just like the tomb, the egg is empty! Empty because Jesus is alive!

After all that egg-talk, they were divided into 3 groups for the Egg Hunt at the Rock Garden. While 1 group hunted, the other 2 had their snack time.

It was more eggs during craft time. Nope, they didn't paint or decorate the chicken eggs because I wanted to keep them edible to avoid wastage. Instead they had paper card eggs, with a crack in it and a chicken (stuck to ice cream stick at the back) that could pop out.

I'm quite glad Joy-Anne went to Little Lamb instead of the Orang Asli village. It was very hot there and certainly no Disneyland. But I'm glad Joe went because it was good exposure for him. At least he now knows that having a warm bed, good food and an abundance of toys is not the norm for lots of children. Joy is still too young to understand. When she's bigger, she'll get the same 'treat'.

Easter celebration with the Orang Asli

This is the Daalin signing in as a guest blogger. It's been a long time since I contributed something in this blog. Have always been wanting to, but I've got a disease - procrastination. Anyway, here I am again.

Check out the father and son hairstyle below!

Today being Easter, this father and son pair went to an Orang Asli (OA) carnival, together with our CG and some others. The purpose - to contribute to the OA Easter carnival by organizing games stalls.

So our CG contributed 3 games. The 1st game was where they were supposed to throw a ball on a velcro board and make it stick. We got Joseph to help by removing any balls that are stuck on the velcro board and return it to the games-master.

We packed a sandwich lunch because we were afraid the food prepared by the OA might not agree with our city stomachs. So this is Joe's egg and cheese sandwich.

However, I could not resist the temptation of wild-boar curry prepared by the OA, so I had 2 helpings of it. Yummy!

The next game that we contributed was bowling. But we didn't take any pictures.

And the third game was quoites also known as throwing hoops. In this game, Joe played several roles. First he was in charge of stamping the players' score-card each time they threw a hoop into the stick.

Then he also took care of the stick - i.e., picked up the hoops and returned them to the game master.

However, sometimes he ended up as the target :)

Then, during one of the breaks (when the OAs went for their lucky draw), Joe and Zachary (the youngest son of our CG leader) had a go at the games. I suppose it was quite tiring for them to watch others play for a few hours while they could not play (because they were here to serve!)

We sometimes sneaked out of the games stall to just take a break at a stream nearby.

We left at about 2pm, and reached home just before 4pm. It was a rather tiring day. However, I pray that this trip would have at least planted a seed in Joseph to help him realize how blessed he is with all the nice comforts of life at home. Also, above all riches, health, status and success, I pray that Joseph would grow up to be a man who loves and appreciates God's creations, and to also have a deep sense of compassion for fellow man.

Blessed Easter!

Blessed Easter to everyone! Jesus came
Jesus died
Jesus rose
Jesus lives!
Jesus is coming again.

That's the gist of what I'll be teaching the kids at Little Lamb today!

April is here!

It's April!

April holds lovely memories for me.

Back in April 2000, ten years ago, (has it been that long???) I took my maiden-solo-long-distance-flight - all the way to Oklahoma City. I flew Penang-Singapore-Tokyo-Minneapolis-Memphis-Cincinnati-Oklahoma City. It was my longest flight ever and I arrived in OKC about 50 hours after departing Penang. The long journey was worth every minute of the 1 month that I spent in USA. Amongst other wonderful places (like shopping in Walmart at 1am!!!), I had the privilege to realise a lifelong dream of visiting both Disneyland in Los Angeles AND Disneyworld in Orlando - all thanks to a very wonderful and generous sister.

In April 2001, I visited Daalin in UK. Spring flowers were beautiful. I vividly remember the lovely tulips!

In April 2002, I visited UK again and this time we took our pre-wedding photos at Abbey Park, Leicester.

In April 2005, Joseph was born!

In April 2007, I conceived Joy-Anne, a month after a miscarriage.

In April 2009, we went to Melbourne for a 8-week-holiday!

This month, Joseph celebrates his 5th birthday. I asked him if he wants a birthday present and his reply completely surprised me. He said, "It's ok.... I don't mind."

Perplexed, I asked him what it was that he didn't mind. And he said, "I don't mind if got present or no present. It's ok." Now that makes me want to get him an even bigger present. Problem is, I don't know what to get!

Kid's Prayer Song

This is one of Joseph's favourite songs.

Simply titled "Kid's Prayer", it's a very meaningful song. Joseph can sing the entire song by heart (while Nana can't remember the words).

And this is his other favourite song - High Speed Song.

Be blessed!

Devotion for Kids - grounding them in the Word of God.

There are only 2 things that are of eternal value.

1. The Word of God

2. Our souls.

I strongly believe that we should train up a child in the way he should go, so that when he is old he will not turn from it.

Joseph can already pray on his own, lead us in worship and tell us most of the Bible stories. I thought it would be good to start him on a more systematic and consistent daily quiet time.

So after much searching in a few Christian bookshops, I found this to be the most suitable one.

Not too deep, nor too simple - it has very practical topics, starting with "Who created God?" and other topics like "What is a conscience?" , "When we're bad, can we still pray?" , "Will God give children toys if they ask him for them?", and plenty more.

The topics look interesting to me as well. I hope this starts Joseph on a life-long love journey with the Word of God.

How cute gets cuter

My princess is growing taller and cuter everyday. This dress that I got tailor-made for her just 6 months ago is already at least 2 inches shorter than when I first got it. I think the dress will have to move to YongPeng in a few months time.
She looks and talks and sings like a 3-year-old.

And I'm so glad that she's quite vain. I cherish the minutes when she will sit still to let me tie her hair. This is the neatest style so far.

Just 2 days ago, she was rummaging thru the diaper bag and dug out a lipstick and she told me, "Mummy, can you please put for me". So I did and minutes later, she said, "I'm so pretty!"


Pretty as she is, she's really quite samseng. I think she's trying to do some ballet here...

I can't get her dancing on video yet but it's quite an entertaining sight.

I just love catching her in my arms and giving her a tight squeeze because she's so bak bak and extremely huggable. One night as I was doing that, I told her, "you're my little piggy" and she replied, "Mummy, you are big pig!"

Silly Songs with Joseph

Chubbier reads to Chubby

Joseph has his unique way of always saying things to make me laugh.

And when I told him that he could be a clown because he's so funny, he said, "Hey....why you ask me to be a clown? I already plan to be a teacher!"

He's practising to teach by reading to his sister, even when she's on the potty.

He can read most simple words but when it comes to the more difficult ones he tries to guess based on the sounds of the first letter.

And when he can't figure out the words at all, he just makes up his own story by looking at the pictures.

I think he'll make a great teacher!

Star HairStyle

I gave Joe and his dad a haircut this morning. And I made a mistake!!! Thinking that I had the no.1 clip on the clipper, I shaved his side and then screamed because there was no clip there! So anyway, I shaved the other side to even it out. Joe was really cool about it! And I gave both of them a star-shaped hair tattoo!
I hope Joe's teachers and Daalin's students (and boss!) don't faint tomorrow!

J&j at the National Children Workers/Leaders & Parenting Conference

My mum and I both attended this fantastic conference jointly organised by DUMC and SIBKL. So Joe and Joy had no choice but to tag along. In my opinion, it was a most blessed choice.

The conference lasted from Wednesday night until Saturday afternoon, ending with a wonderful Rock 'n Roll Easter Party (with a 60's theme). Because we stayed on for celebration yesterday, the kids were in church from 8.30am till 7.30pm!

With my bags of stuff (milk, change of clothes, cereal, lunch, toys, books etc...) I didn't bring my camera. But Mei Ling very kindly took some photos for us at the party. And the pro always takes better photos. Joy wore her polka-dot Gymboree dress that YeeYee bought.
Joseph wore a hand-me-down Gap stripped shirt with suspenders and bow tie that are at least 7 years old (Joshua wore this as page boy at our wedding) and his favourite jeans from Target Australia. It's his favourite because there are no buttons or zip. (Very difficult to find this kind of pants!)

And Daalin who was part of the worship team on stage had red hair! I think they both look so cute together!

Family Holiday at Pulai Springs Resort

Since 2004, the Tan clan has gone on family holidays almost annually. We went back to Pulai Springs Resort again for a 4D3N stay in a 4-bedroom apartment. It's located right between YongPeng and Singapore and that makes it very strategic for us. The other factor is that we don't want individual hotel rooms and there are not many 4-bedroom holiday homes around.

Pulai Springs has got pretty good facilities. But their service or rather, the lack of it leaves much to be desired. Their staff walk around with grumpy faces that make me feel like I'm imposing on them.

Our journey from KL was rather pleasant. We left home at about 9am and stopped at Yong Peng for lunch.

Upon arrival at Pulai Springs at 3pm, the apartment was not ready and so they parked all 15 of us inside a studio apartment.

My kids had their milk break while the bigger kids had an iPhone party.

They're all very tech-savvy or iPhone-addicted, depending how you want to look at it.

Ah Kong tried to nap while the kids all jumped on the only bed. Of course Ah Kong didn't mind at all that he probably couldn't sleep a wink.

After we finally got into our room at past 5pm (that's more than 2 hours of waiting!!!), the boys went swimming while I took Joy for a walk. I was too lazy to get into the pool.

The boys had a real blast with all the gear that Tua Um bought.

Joy checked out the Koi fish (there's a lot more than in the photo)...

...and also the peacock.

I also took her to check out the TeeTee Club which was really very pathetic. It's got potential but almost zero-maintenance.

At night we had dinner at the Qing Palace Chinese Restaurant. The service here was probably the best in the entire resort.

The boys were famished and quickly gobbled down the food as soon as it landed on the tables.

Even Mabel fed herself rice while Joy had baby cereal.

Daalin a.k.a. DBKL got to work and cleaned all the plates....

Then we took a slow walk back to the room (you've got to cross a road to a different building to get to the restaurant)...

...to see the Manager to complain about the very late check-in. I asked him for some compensation. He wanted to let us have a late check-out but I didn't want that. We wanted extra breakfast vouchers for the kids and all he gave us was 5 pieces. So it was only for 1 day that we could all go down for breakfast.

On the other 2 mornings, some of us skipped breakfast at the Cinta Terrace because it's just not worth it to pay RM32++ per adult or RM16++ per kid for that kind of breakfast.

In the apartment, the boys kept occupied playing Wii.

I also had a go playing Wii boxing and bowling. Despite my lousy scores, I'm still nursing aching arms and a aching left butt. Not very good at bowling though since Brandon (age 6) can beat me at it.

The next morning, we went to Jusco Taman Universiti which is a 5-minute drive away. Ah Kong went to Starbucks for free wifi (it's RM20 for 2 hours at the hotel) while the kids played at the indoor playground.

In the evening, the boys went swimming again.

And this time I took Joy for a dip. She clung on really tight to me most of the time.

That night (Sunday), we ate dinner in the apartment. Ah Mah was well-prepared. We had a induction hot plate which enabled cooking.

Check out the spread.... beef rendang, steamed kampung chicken, devil chicken and etc.

The kids were watching The Magic School Bus while Ah Mah did the cooking.

And after eating, they jumped around on the bed while I watched Transformers on Singapore TV.

Chubby and Chubbier

The kids enjoyed the holiday the most. And the adults enjoyed watching the kids enjoy. My kids in particular enjoyed warm bubble baths.

On Monday, we went to Jusco again for dinner. This time we had Sushi King.

Joseph was fascinated with the conveyor belt. After dinner, they played around some more while Ah Kong had his internet fix.

Back in the apartment, it was more Wii. Joseph could bowl several strikes!

Overall it was a good holiday. The hotel service was crap. On Monday, HouseKeeping only came at past 3pm after numerous calls and disrupted Daalin's nap. They ran out of towels. Breakfast was chaotic. They clearly couldn't cope with the school holiday crowd and had insufficient seating.

We'll have to look for some other place for our next holiday.

4-bedroom apartment at Pulai Springs : RM755

Dinner at Sushi King : RM232

Time with family : priceless!