加油 my little one.. You can do it

My little one is still like a small child.

She still like things that are meant for babies / toddlers.

Perhaps it's because she didn't get to enjoy them when she was small and there weren't so many varieties during then.

So mama told her that she will get as present when she complete 50 books.. 加油 my little one

You can do it

small blessings

Our family is into avocado lately and avocado family is growing. These cuties are sleep companions every night.

I have been trying to advocate savings to my youngest but she doesn't seem to be able to grasp the concept of delay gratification. So when she showed me this article which she cut out from the newspaper on saving money and start saving her pocket money...no words can clearly describe what I felt. I'm really really thankful. And I learnt that some things is really can't be rushed.

Growing and improving every day

She is growing and improving each day albeit at her own pace. Today she shared with me a secret how she can remember what she learnt or need to remember. She said : do revision of the thing to remember before sleep. Then before you sleep after you off the light, you say the things that you want to remember out loud. You photostat (copy) the thing that you want to remember in your brain and you go through it again in your brain. You will remember it tomorrow when you wake up in the morning.

I'm grateful she found a way that can help her be better in her learning. I'm grateful that God showed her the way and showed me the way. Thank you

 

Milk tea for mama

 My children made milk tea for me + themselves for mother's day celebration. It may not be comparable to commercial milk tea but it is best for me...with the ngam ngam sweetness. It is simple yet I'm grateful. 

Volunteer

 This year I'm going to sign up to be a volunteer. It could be to teach under privilege students or to serve under privileged community. Also it can be helping out during Wesak Day. I will ask around and explore ways how I can help to make a difference 1 action at a time. I vow to bring my children along to join serving the community.

Now that I have the urge, let's hit the iron while it's hot. Let's get started exploring what are the avenue / NGO I can join to contribute. Do share with me if you know of any charity looking for volunteers, thank you

choosing school for children

I believe every parents go through this ... choosing kindergarten, primary and secondary school for children. It's not easy and there are many factors to consider. And also because children will be spending almost half of their time in school. School is children 2nd home and children will bloom and groom if they meet good teachers and friends and get to learn and grow in good environment. 

Even after we made the decision, sometimes we may not get the school we want. Sometimes we need to go through alot in order to get into the school we wanted. And after that, sometimes we doubt if we made the right choice. Irony as it may seem but that seem to be the norm as parents. 

last post for year 2022

Today is 31/12/2022 and last day of year 2022. It has been a year filled with ups and downs. It is also a year of 'wake up call' for me. Many things happened and some really make think thrice about what have I done so far..

is it really how I want to leave my life? 

Am I wasting my life away doing something I detest? 

Why can't I just for once live for myself? Life is short and I'm halfway already.

My children are growing up fast and I sort of regret not spending enough time with them. Seriously what's the use earning money trying to make a living when I couldn't be there for them when they need me most. Sad..

So come 2023, I'm finding my way out of the rut, going to do what is important to me, going to focus on my priorities (my children, my family, my life, my health). I'm just a normal human with my flaws and limitations. I'm with limited time and resources so I do not waste in on things that does not matter..I'm sorry but this can only be the way forward. And for once, i have this strong urge to venture into education industry educating our future generation.

And I'm starting my own youtube channel to share some info and raise public awareness. My motto for tomorrow : just do it (wrong or right never mind, as long as I get started and even if wrong, I take corrective action from there)

Last but not least, thank you 2022 for a wonderful year that gave me a wake up call on what are the important things in my life and making me realised that me and only me can make the change.

Crochet

I'm thankful my daughter is into crochet and knitting. It helps to mellow down her temper and allow her to learn to relax. And allow her to learn to put in effort to complete a 'project'

Some of her creations and hopefully next time she will have her own brand of crochet items and crafts :) 

1% improvement everyday

I do not know since when I start to believe that we can improve 1% everyday and by the end of 1 year..we would have improved by at least 365% (which is alot)

The 1% improvement could be from our personal life, children studies, work life, health, mental health, habits, productivity, self care, investment, learning and application.... it could almost be anything.

I try to brainwash my children to approach life using this concept too.. because like how Plato put it : Never discourage anyone who continually make progress, no matter how slow' 

So now instead of lamenting, I make effort to be thankful that me & my children are learning at least 1% everyday and grateful for having the opportunity to learn and grow.

8/9/2022 - my wake up call

8/9/2022 on this particular day, something happened to me. I consider it a wake up call to me. I literally almost work myself to near death. I'm not going to hide but it's something I'm bare to open to admit my self-negligence. 

Basically, I got so worried, so anxious, so panic about the amount of pressure and work that I broke down. I was crazy enough to let all the burden on myself. I was crazy enough not knowing to escalate and let go, thinking if I try on my level best, I may be able to settle it. However, this lesson definately give me a wake up call that I'm definately not capable of doing so. And why so stupid to burden my soul with those things that doesn't really even matter to me at all. 

So from that day till today, I'm learning and still learning to let go, to draw the line and to shout for help when I need it, to be brave to voice my view and have my rights exercised, to basically learn to love myself more cause the work without me is nothing, it will move on. But my family without me is a great deal and I don't want that to happen prematurely.

So to the person writing this.. You are ENOUGH. You have to LIVE for YOURSELF because this is YOUR LIFE. It's ok to FALL and FAIL, but STAND BACK UP and CONTINUE ON.

I'm really grateful to my those who helped me and saved my life in the time of need. Thank you for saving my life. I could be gone if not for your fast action. Thank you and may GOD bless you all. 

If you put in effort, God will help you

If you put in effort, God will help you..

This is what I always remind my daughter. She might be slower when it comes to learning academically but I wanted her to know that as long as she put in effort and hard work, God will always help her and path a road for her.

Today she got her chinese test .. she got 69/100 which help to build her confidence and trust that if she put in effort, she can improve. I'm thankful to her teachers who taught them relentlessly and for not giving up on my daughter.

Paradigm shift was what I needed and put to practice..i just have to believe that my daughter is capable. I just have to trust her ability and that she'll improve and be better. 

doing what is best at the moment

 For the 1st time, she told me she wanted to go for art class. For the 1st time, she reminded me when i forgot to do research for art class. For the 1st time, she told me she wanted to join the real class right after the trial class. For the 1st time she treasured her drawing and creation so much. For the 1st time, she asked me if I have enrolled her for the art class and for the 1st time, she asked me if I have the money to pay for her art class.

Perhaps it's true that when it comes to things that we are passionate about, we have this internal motivation to get us moving towards our passion.

This is perhaps 1 of the best thing I could do at this moment..to give her support and guidance towards her strength and passion. Every child is god's gift from heaven... this I believe is true 

cool fun stuffs created

My youngest may not be good in her studies, however she has her way of creating new fun stuffs such as this writing / drawing board. Pardon her wrong spelling but I think this is cool 

 

Chawan mushi in a cawan

To make life more fun and interesting, I make it a point to try out new breakfast recipe for every week. So in a year time, i would have at least try out preparing plus minus 40 different varieties of breakfast.

This one is one of my favourite and nutritious .... I call it chawan mushi in a cawan 

Because I can't fit 4 bowls into the steamer tray, i decided to use cup (cawan) instead. And because I don't have spring onion at that point of time, I just added some moringa leaves pluck from my kitchen window. What makes me happy was my children like this localised & improvised 'cawan mushi' ... and it's all that matter.

Mushi mushi ... cawan mushi 

 

5D art is calming and relaxing

 

Something which I'm into lately and helps to calm my mind .. 5D art. How it works? the self adhesive sheet is covered with many numbers and symbols and we are supposed to stick the beads following the numbers and symbols.

When more and more beads are sticked to the sheet, the beautiful picture will appear :) above is the koi fishes painting which we made for my father for chinese new year :) 

creating something meaningful

Last weekend, I threw an idea out to my eldest ... what if we create a video to teach young children (and ourselves) about collective nouns? In case some of us forget about what's collective nouns ... it's like English penjodoh bilangan (ie. a school of dolphins)

And I started asking questions like :

• What program can we use to create video?
• How should our story board be?
• Who's going to read and how can we record our sound?
• What can we do to get started?
• Where can we upload our video so children can learn? 

So my eldest started exploring and I shared with him one of my goals of having an educational channel where children can learn the simple and relaxing way.

And I got him onboard and even suggested perhaps we can upload a video a week / a fortnight for a start. We spend Saturday afternoon and night completing the 1 minute+ video with him doing most of the job while I cheer him on. He created a new user account and just like that we uploaded our 1st video on collective nouns for animals. 

And we brainstorm with more ideas on the following video contents ranging from collective nouns for fruits and things, animal gender names, idioms, proverb, synonyms, antonyms,vocabulary etc. Please do let us know if there are any topics you would like us to explore.

Nothing great nothing fancy about the video. It was simple & minimal but I'm feeling happy we got started and I'm thankful my children buy into the idea of sharing what we know and learn together. And putting what we know to good use and at the same time pick up a skill or two in the process. 

If you would like to have a look at what came out from that eventful 15 Jan 2022, Saturday effort, please click here : https://youtu.be/k2mF6kTSGxY

grow grow growing - even the beds have to grow together

When children grow, our beds have to grow together

From sleeping in the same room to sleeping in separate room.

From 3 tilam to 4 tilam

It means they are growing and I'm truly thankful 

Give .. and we can make a difference

In this difficult time, I decided to help wherever I can. And I want to guide my children to chip in doing it. So this birthday, beside planting a tree each month and making seed bombs, I have decided to donate to orphanage cash and books. Hopefully these little angels have better days ahead and pay it forward when they grow up. 

So, this birthday I'm planting trees and seeds of education for our children of tomorrow. Let's do it together one tree at a time, 1 seed at a time for 1 child at a time. 

getting started with jigsaw puzzle

 

It all started when I was decluttering and found some treasures ... puzzles. I love to do them when I was young and single and carefree and with time to spare. Nowadays it's luxury if I can find time to sleep. The boxes of puzzles are still with plastic cling wrap so I will never throw them. I was busy taking pictures and started asking around almost every group in my messaging list to see if anyone interested and passionate about jigsaw puzzle. Managed to give some of the big pieces floor puzzle to neighbour's niece. Other than that, no one seem to be into jigsaw nowadays. 

Lucky enough, a close friend in one of my usual 'talk everything' group suggested that I keep them for my children ... which turn out to be the best idea. Jigsaw puzzle develop our brain, our focus, our perseverance, our patience. All in all, it's a great tool for children development. So, over the weekend I try to get children to get started, hoping that once started then it's no going back, they will be like their mother.

Lucky luck was on my side, we started with some 'quick win' to gain interest. Something small and achievable ie. 120 pieces with colourful pictures to build up interest and confidence. Hopefully the rest will fall in place and like they say, the rest is history. 

In retrospect, this mco seem to be a blessing in disguise. It makes me stop, take a breather and do things I won't usually do (or rather things I won't usually have time to do). If no mco, I wouldn't be so diligently cleaning and clearing my home, and if I don't clear I won't find the jigsaw puzzles, and if I find with the busy schedule, we may not have time to explore...

This is just the beginning, I know it's still a long way to go...but never try never know

Reading challenge 2020

 

24 more days before we come to the end of 2020.

24 more days before I'll know whether I'm able to accomplish my reading challenge of reading 20 books for year 2020.

One would have imagine that with the various variation of MCO this year, I shall be able to complete my 2020 reading challenge ... well, let's keep fingers crossed.

I'm burning midnight oil catching up on reading. Haha, don't get me wrong, I'm not reading for the sake of completing this reading challenge. I'm reading because I want to and because it help me to relax. Reading challenge just give me that extra boost and motivation especially when I'm a little lag.

To those who loves to read, let's celebrate the joy of reading this Christmas ...let's spread the love of reading to our younger generation. A book can really open up a child's world. It can do wonders.

Here, a big thank you to local bookstores (ie. Big Bad Wolf, Popular) for bringing us affordable books and enable this reading hobby to prevail. And to a friend, NDC who introduced us to Z Library which help to fuel this reading hobby.

To my children, mama hope the reading seeds I have planted will continue to grow with you and be your support in time of need.