Playing together

These 2 played together.

Maybe Andrew was still 1 year old? 

Timmy 12 years old? 

Helping Mommy in the Kitchen

Helping Mommy in the kitchen, while learning about life skill as well.
Cooking skill. :)
Thanks for your help, boy.

We were at the supermarket, after school. 😄He said " Why don't we make Fettucini carbonara, Mom?" 

So, yup, here's our after school activity. Cooking together. 😄😀😁😊
He helped to grate the cheese, cut the Smoked Chicken, stir the sauce.

And finally eat the yummy cheesy Fettucini Carbonara.

Bon Appetite!

Liking Someone

The beauty of motherhood, is when we get to share the days of our children, when they came back from school and tell us what happened during the day.

Timmy told me this: "Mom, it's funny how liking someone is an unexplainable feelings. You just like the person. It's not explainable scientifically, biologically. It just happened."

Oh...he is growing up.
I'm treasuring my motherhood days.
And I am glad to be able to share his growing up days together.

Love you my boy.

Field Trip

Timmy had his first ever sleep-over Field Trip with the school.
They embarked on a 2 days 1 night Retret with the school.

So, it was his first time sleeping overnight without me.
I taught him how to pack his stuff, what are the clothes needed, toiletries, etc.
It was his milestone.
..and it ended up to be my milestone as well. Hahahaha...

I thought that I was gonna be free.
Free from hassle, etc.

Well...I did felt free....
went out with my mom and dad, went to play with my nephew, did some gardening,
even get the gardener to cut out the big tree next to my house, read a novel while drinking coffee...
it was all good....


until it was around 4-5 in the afternoon.
How come it's so quiet?
Things started to feel....strange...different...
It's too quiet!  Hahaha...

I asked the other mothers...
and they all felt the same.
Even the ones with 2 or 3 kids.
They all said, that there is something missing.
Hahahaha...

So, hey! It's the milestone for the mothers too.
Hahahah...Being away from their kids.
My husband Benny said: "Seperti induk ayam kehilangan anak."
Bukan anak doang yang kehilangan induk.
Induknya juga kehilangan anak ayam.."
Hahahaha...
True....

Hence, I decided to sleep overnight at my parent's house.
Hahahaha...

I thought that I could survive the day.
I thought that usually it's only Timmy and I.
without maid, without Benny.
So, I should be able to survive and felt free.

But hey! It's no so fun to be single anymore.
I just realized that I have changed.
Hahahahaha...

Timmy and Bryan

Edrick, Timmy, Bryan, Marco.
Garneta, Vania.
Jethro, Aileen, Berlino, Nathan.

My Parenting Days

Parenting Timmy is much easier this year, compared to last year.
When he was in 4th grade, it was "Ouch"...
I wondered how I survived. Must have been because of God's help.

This year, I started to see his improvements.
Whenever I pick him up from school, he usually comes out with smiley faces.
Previously, he was grouchy and angry.

His 4th grade home-room teacher told me that whenever the class was noisy, he would shout "Shut Up! to the whole class.   But there were times that when he couldn't stand it anymore, he asked to be excused from the class to have a drink outside the class to cool himself down.

Well, now his 5th grade teacher said that he doesn't shout like that anymore.
He made a new best friend buddy of his named Bryan.
Upon lunch break, they always have lunch together at their "usual spot".
He also starts to make friends with other boys, like Marco, Delvin.

He is much calmer now. Thank God.

Well, the issues that I'm facing now is his time management skill.
His favourite game now is: Boom Beach and Minecraft.
And watching Youtube about Minecraft.

It's dillematic, Minecraft is the trending topic with the boys these days.
So, if I don't let him play, then he will be left behind with the trending topic.
But what annoys me is that whenever he is with the gadget, he cannot control himself.
For example, when he promised that he would play for 30 minutes, after the timer rang, he would still continue playing.     If I remind him about it, he would get grouchy.   That annoys me so much.

We are still working on it.
We had an agreement on this issue, I must challenge myself to be consistent.

Another issue that I am facing right now is that Timmy doesn't like Mandarin so much.
It's my challenge on how to make this learning fun.

He has no trouble with other subjects.
He can study on his own and get excellent score.
Actually on his last mandarin test, his score was good. 298 out of 300,
but what worries me was his story on how he behaves in the classroom when the teacher is teaching.
He said that he took out his IPS, IPA book or whatever books and doesn't listen to the teacher.

Ah...this boy.
They must undertake HSK in March, and I don't see him study for it.
Well, well, well, I tried to make learning Mandarin fun.
Even bought some toys.
Well, we'll see.

On the socializing, tomorrow will be the first time for Timmy to visit Bryan's house for a play date.
Timmy invented Minecraft "Paper" edition for them to play. Hahahaha.
So, he made cubes out of paper, drew  Minecraft characters on it, made some for Bryan as well.
Then they played together.

Bryan came to our house in January  2016. So, this time it will be Timmy's turn to go to his house.

These are the photos of Timmy and Bryan when they attended the seminar about Minecraft coding.

 

After the event, I brought them for lunch. Nasi goreng ayam. Hahaha.

Parts and Parcel of Motherhood.

Taking care of this boy since baby 

sure takes a lot of effort. 

Looking back at those days...

and realised how time flies. 

Parenting is not easy...

There is no school that I can go to learn and obtain all the skills. 

It's like jumping into the water and start swimming...

Well, he is 9 going to be 10 this year. 

And few days back, he said: "I would love to live on my own, so I don't have to listen to you Mom."

I said: "Okay, if that's what you want. I'm not gonna hold you back. But before that, it means that I need to teach you some life skills."

So..last Saturday, he wanted Indomie for breakfast.

Tim: "Mom can you make me Indomie please?"

Me: "Why don't you make it yourself. I will teach you how." 

Tim: Oh.....

Me: Well, you said you wanna live on your own...

Tim: Okay ...okay...

So, here's the photo of him making his indomie. 

With spills here and there...

With "help Mom.... here and there." 

Hahahahaha....

Another part of his milestone that I like to see blossoming is his social ability.
Photo was taken at the Pastoral Care at the Church.
Glad that he has this smiley face when I picked him up.

It was tough getting him to join this activity.
Things like "Mom, this is weekend. I have worked so hard from Monday to Friday to enjoy the weekend. and this program is from 10-3, so long, 5 hours. It's taking up my time. "

Well, I was so happy that when I picked him up, he had his smiley face on, running around here and there with the other kids. Thank God. :)

And after his homework was done, he requested for pizza. 

He wanted to order one, to be delivered. 

But I told him that we could make one instead. 

Not one, but three. 

Since there were 3 pizza bases. 

..and we put generous extra toppings. hehehehe..

Last Sunday, I taught him how to iron his uniform. :)

Having no maid in the house, that means he needs to participate in the housework. 

Well...he was scared when he used the iron. 

...and his ironing needs improvement. 

But I am glad....

at least that's a start. 

Now the challenge is for me to be consistent. 

Well....that' part of my motherhood and parenting days.

Love you Tim.   Hope that you will grow into a good man one day.

Hectic Day

What a hectic day today.
I've been busy like a busy bee. Hahaha...

Woke up early at 5.00 am this morning.

It's the final exam week for Timmy.
The boy has requested to wake up early to review his study.
So...woke him up, made his milk, prepared his breakfast, and school meals, and sent him to school.

When he was at school, I became the cleaning fairy. Hahaha....
Took off all the curtain on the second floor. It hasn't been cleaned for a long time. So, I decided to take it off and wash it.   Then, I washed the 2 toilets upstairs.

By the time it was done, hunger strikes. Hahaha.... Made banana nutella sandwich for myself with Mochachino milk. Yum...

Not long after that it was time to pick Timmy up from school.
The boy has been sick with cough and flu, on and off. From the school, I brought him to the hospital for nebulizer treatment. 

Then we had lunch at Tea Garden restaurant. Met Timmy's best friend Darren and his Mom there. It was a coincidence. We didn't make appointment. Hahaha...

After lunch, we went home, took shower, then had a nap.

I woke up before him, and was emptying the bin, when he woke up.

Then I proceeded to wash the next batch of curtain, when he shouted "Mama...mama..."
So I was up in the laundry place. Came back down, made his milk and put up the curtain.
He made rude comments about me not wanting him, he better dies, that I will be better off without him, that he wants to shoot me with his gun.

Oh, I was stern to him and said "How dare you say things like that? and started my preaching. If you are still so little and under my care, you dare to say things like that, what will you be when you grow up. I cannot accept those words and that behaviour. I do not like it when you whine like that. I will listen to you, when you speak nicely. When you only call out Mama...mama...I will not understand. Bla...bla...bla...

Upon waking up from the nap, Timmy complained to me about having severe head-ache. 

 I suspected it was sinusitis.

Rang up the hospital for our usual ENT doctor. Luckily, he was still at the hospital, operating someone. And he was kind and waited for us. He should be at another hospital by 5 pm. Ah...what a blessing, we could make it on time there.
The traffic was good. Thank God that the nurse helped, Doctor was kind, traffic was good.

Timmy had his X-Ray for his head, to determine whether it is sinusitis or not.
Tomorrow we will be back to see the Doctor.

Alright, it has been a hectic day.

But I am glad of today, it has become an opportunity for me to teach Timmy about saying "Please", "Thank you", and "Sorry".
And to teach him to say kind words, that his whining will be ignored, that I will listen to him, if he says things nicely.

Ah....one of my motherhood days. :)

Teeth

Timmy's teeth fell again.
He is 9 years and 4 months today.

When I picked him up from school today, I had a surprise.
He was waiting for me at the gate.
When he saw me, he ran to me with a big smile, and showed me his teeth that is in his mouth.
The wiggly waggly teeth has fell off. :)
This time it was the wisdom tooth.

Even the dentist said that Timmy's teeth changes and grows at a faster speed than his peers.
For the past months he has been changing 5 teeth, at nearly the same time.



He grew his baby teeth when he was 4 months old.
At that time, I was still breast feeding him, and he bit on the nipple. Ouch!
I started to recognize his sign before he bit the next time I breast-fed him. Ha!

Well those days of motherhood is in the past.
Now, I witness my sister in law breast-feeding hers.
She is in the sleepless night state.
Me...I'm in the character moulding state. :)

Ah...parenthood.

Timmy's New Cousin

So, I have a nephew.

Timmy has a new cousin..

Baby John.

The one that Timmy has been talking to when John was still in the womb. 

I am an aunt, haha...
Call me "Kuku"

Sleeping peacefully

sleeping peacefully in the hospital box

Big cousin Timmy

A loving big cousin Timmy. Koko Timmy! :)

Hello John, welcome to the world.

with grandma

And guess what, I found Timmy's shirt and pant that he wore when Timmy was 2 months old.
It was designed for 6-12 months baby. But it fit Tim when he was 2 months. :)

Ah...it's like finding a treasure. Hahahaha...