Gooly's essay writing

I confess! Stop asking already.m (as if you did :p)

I do set writing assignments for gooly, particularly after a visit to a special place. Writing is much easier with experiences. So I reckon if he had traveled a bit, see the world (ahem!) with his own eyes, why not write down his experience? The instruction has always been, "write what you see, hear, smell and feel."

And so we have stories about the Aquaria, farm, etc. This morning, I read with interest what a friend's daughter who is of same age as gooly (7.5 yrs old) has written for a school test. He was causing so much ruckus with his little sister that I sent him to the corner to write his own story of going to zoo. This is what he wrote:

One happy day, I wanted to go to the zoo. My family went there by bus. When we reached the zoo, I saw an animal picture at the entrence. Then I got very excited.

First I saw a flock of parrots eating lunch. They were so beautiful my mother can't resist taking a picture. The parrots wings and bodies is covered by rainbow color (ed feathers).

Next I saw two elephants eating bananas. By their look on their faces, it looks like the bananas are very yummy, the two elephants had long tusks and big bodies.

At last I saw ten crocs eating their carcass. They looked very fears so I quickly snap a picture and ran away.

It was so fun that I wanted to come back again. The end.

I like his choice of words. Gotta work on his grammar and spelling, though I must say the latter has improved quite a bit.

Now comes the big problem. His handwriting is atrocious! No amount of cajoling, scolding, and other -ling (hamkaling?) had helped. I don't know if he is doomed to have ugly handwriting or he is just not bothered. He likes to write his stories fast, bish bosh bam, thank you ma'am, I'm off to watch tv. It makes me boil!

And I'm pretty sure he can write more...I mean, he talks a lot..it's just putting his words unto paper, right?

Ish!

Ms Ng

So, we have a Miss Ng in da house. She makes Ng..Ng...Ng..Ng..sounds (similar to those hard pooping sound) when she wants something, can't reach for something, needs help in something, can't fit a big container into a small container...you get the drift. Oh! She is so whiny!! But we love her to bits that we just have to make light of the situation. Otherwise we will just go cuckoo with all the irritating hard-rock poop sound around the clock!

Thus the name, Ms. Ng.

She whines, we ask, "yes, ms Ng"

She complains, we say, "whatever, ms Ng"

Miraculously, whenever we have company, she is like this Ms Ladylike, smiling sheepishly, offering her hand to be held, posing (usually tilitng her head to the side with megawatt smiles) for cameras. Not that I am complaining. She is really the cutest thing we ever owned..I mean, have. That is, at the presence of others.

Ada's mom says she is so "stoh-bury" (strawberry) like, a Thai lingo for someone who is soft spoken, gentle, manja..I think. Or it could be "aqua-like". But we all melt under her charms of coyness. Especially when she suddenly comes up to us, her lips close to ours, offering kisses for no reasons, but love.

And then she says HI in Stitch's voice, and helds her hand high up like Hitler.

But she is not so cute when she has a whole WWF smack down session with her brother, which often ends with her biting his finger.

Well...still a little cute, eh?

And then this morning she hid her chut chut - the utmost important tool in OUR lives! She can't sleep without it. When she doesn't sleep, nobody sleeps! And so we panicked - gooly and I (papah was at work). We searched every nook and corner, every drawer, even the fridge. The fridge?? Yup, the fridge. Everything is possible with my girl. Hence the hunt began, while she looks nonchalant, giggling girlishly here and there. Finding the mini pink chut chut in an apartment after the tornado named Lolly hit it was near impossible. We flipped and tossed and turned every damn thing...and then I suddenly remembered...

She has been walking in and out the walk in closet of late. Careful not to snap her fingers with the sliding door. Sometimes she looked oddly suspicious like she is taking stuff from there and putting it elsewhere. And so I thought, if she could take things out, she could bring them in! And so I checked...viola! Right under...I don't even know what to call it. But it was some obscure place.

We were so jubilant with our treasure hunt. Meanwhile, she looked at us innocently and reclaimed her chut chut in a cool manner, looking almost haughty - like "what's the big commotion? Why didn't you just ask me".

But she does look cute with the pink "thing" in her mouth.

So, it's really a "drive us up the walls" stage with many intervals of "cutest thing on earth".

"COME DOWN, lolly! dONT CLIMB!" I guess it's one of the "wall" moments now.

Gotta love life. In Bangkok. Just me and the kids.

Again. :)

My wamby mamby bunny

For awhile, Lolly was a little rough. She punches the wall, and screams, I'm always hungry (or was it angry?)rawrrrrr! Teehee. Kidding. She just liked to pull of my specs. I didn't like it at all.

She also pinched or dug her her nails real deep into your skin. For kicks.

To top of everything, she didnt do kisses. You can ask, beg, bribe...uh-uh..she wont give you a peck. It started of a blur face - "buat dunno" like she didnt kmow what a kiss is, no matter how many times you have demonstrated what a kiss (with bad breath and all) is like. and then she upgraded to
head shakes - albeit a little cuter at this stage cos she threw in some shy smiles, but we felt rejected nonetheless.

So what did i do? For those punches..I mean pulling specs stunts, i gave very stern warnings. Carrying her near face level was not as enjoyable as she can be very swift with her "lightning" hands.

And hoped and hoped that this gangster attitude phase passes quickly..that she will be a loving bunny wabbit soon.

Voila..today she voluntarily kissed me, three times! Like this -

1. I went out, came home, swooped her up, carried her at the hip, careful to place my face 100 inches away because i was in specs. She cupped my chin, turned it to her, and moved her lips to mine. Awwwww~

2. She woke from her nap, crawled to me (also napping..well, pretending i guess cos i was still wearing my specs). She tapped on the glassed gently, and smiled as though telling me 'yes, momma, i know i was notti for yanking your specs last time, which was yesterday actually') and then she inched closer, putting her head side by side with mine, on the same pillow, and muakkk..another kiss!

3. Cant remember! But it was lovely as hell!

She is really a charmer..when she drops her "i punch you" Incredible Hulk persona. Oh well, she is usually like that ONLY in the morning, prior to her nap.

Not a morning person, I guess. Just like momma.

:)

Bff

I have two..yeah only two girlfriends from school, whom I have known for over 20 years. Has it been that long already? Strange to be able to say, "Twenty years ago...."

And so here we are, twenty years later (have to keep repeating this to snap out of this denial (st)age) and we are still the best of buds. Busy with our own lives - kids, career, family, toy boys etc., we dont meet often but when we do, damn! It feels good.

We are mothers to all our children. In fact, when we have problems with our own breed, we'd refer them as, "Your son ah...stole neighbours panty again" or "Your daughter is refusing baths for the 49th day already." (Not that those incidents really happened, duh..like I'm gonna tell the worst of them. Actually, I will, but just another post). And the non-biological mothers will respond with, "Aww..so cute."

We have come to the realisation that the godmoms are to spoil the kids, while the real momsters are set to be well, the monsters. Good..so the kids get abundance of love even when the real moms have hormonal issues or psycho issues or whatever..(seem to come a lot from MY household).

We tease each other mercilessly..but our words never hurt. Instead, all the teasings always leave me feeling toasty warm inside. Now that Gooly is older, he has somewhere (not from me #innocent) picked up naughty cheeky stuff to say like, "Old women nobody want to kidnap lah" - telling his godma not to worry abour her safety. I actually laughed out loud when my bestie told me about it cos she was at the verge of saying, "Niemah," or was it "Cilaka", i cannot remember.

And the other mom wanted to choose a bag which later Lolly can inherit. I suggested a Chanel for my own benefit. But she didnt buy it (my idea and bag). But the thought of giving it to her god daughter, Lolly is really nice.

Two besties..what else could i ask for? :-)

A Chanel, maybe. :p

Goolly telling me a joke

The other day, a friend was telling how someone is getting a divorce but still had to fake smiles for her daughters to hide her pain. I do not know if I am capable of that, smiling when I really want to cry. I think I am more "show and tell" type. I was not entirely sure so I asked Gooly if I had ever told him that I am sad. He said, no I haven't but he can always tell from my face. Wise words of a 7 year old. So that confirms that i do not have a poker face.

So what do people do when they are not in a chirpy mood, I asked, just for the heck of it.

"Sometimes they just want to be alone," he suggested.

I nodded in agreement.

"Sometimes I can tell you jokes to cheer you up..." he offered.

I grinned and teased, "But your jokes are not always funny."

"Oh ya? Hear this." He whipped up a joke from nowhere - "A hamburger walked into a bar.."

A WHAT???

Walked into a WHAT??? Did he say BAR??? My 7 year old is telling bar jokes?? Already??(strange, he hasnt met sinkar for a while already. Where did he learn that joke from)

I was lost in my thoughts for that few seconds and suddenly was jolted by his epiloque of "why arent you laughing? Where is your sense of humour?"

Ok, and then I laughed.

And i said I didnt get his joke. Something about a hamburger in a BAR...Gosh! Was it even a dirty joke? He refused to re-tell it. Tsk!

But yeah..I suppose he will make me laugh when I am sad. He probably did in the past. But now i can be sure.

Say...Hmm..maybe it was "a hamburger walked in with a bra.."

Lolly in a bottle?

just a little after the 13th month...She is toddling well now. She swings her arms back and forth, back and forth when she circles around the house, making her look like an old lady doing a rountine senam robik. It could be that she is immitating my mom. I must say she is cheeky enough to copy the most un-childlike actions, like walking with a limp (my mom does when her arthiritis attacks.)

She is always busy, walking into the kitchen, out from the dining, into the room, etc. If the toilets are not locked, she would love to venture the mini waterworld. We were, still are in fact, worried that she falls off the step that separates the living hall from another hall, which happens to be her utmost favorite spot in the house. She eats her bread, takes a rest, talks on the phone while sitting there. She has fallen before, inevitably raising big bungalow bumps on her forehead. But now she has gotten the hang of it. She even kinda deviced her own "step route" - up one way (holding the wall), and down another (holding the banister).

She says "daddiiiih" but we have always referred the father as papa. So..we are not sure if she is really calling dadddih for sure. But it has happened numerous times. "Daddddiiih~~" with outstretched hands towards the suspect, who melted into a messy glob upon hearing the sweet calling.

"Taw-taw" is kinda confirmed. But sometimes its "Ohhwaaa" when she shouts for him from downstairs (immitating me, I believe. Harrumph!)

The other night, it was "Mmaamaa". Twice. It was so sweet, so unexpected, so tender. And she hugged me around the neck, tight. I scooped her up, feeling so high, and asked that she calls Mmammaa again. She didnt. And hasnt since then. Harrumph! Was that just a preview?

I love watching her play with taw-taw. She likes putting her face so near to him that either one would faint if the other has halitosis. She looks at him in the eyes. They head butt each other, sometimes with her hands under his chin, until they break into a ruckus laughter.

Sometimes she just walks over to us, and rests her head on us. And we stop whatever gambling activities we were partaking, to give her massive hugs. She likes them. These hug-till-your-ear-wax-is-squeezed-out cuddles.

Just now, she was munching on her rice cracker, surveying the room, as per norm. She picked up her caterpillar teether (which she never chews on), walked over to the book cabinet, tossed the cracker on the floor, opened the cabinet door,shoved the teether inside. And bam! She closed the door, with a triumphant look. I said, "Well done!" and I clapped. I clapped and clapped. So did she, with a very proud smile. She then picked up her cracker to eat again.

It was a very simple thing to do. Picking up something to keep (albeit at the wrong cabinet) (and then continue eating.) But it was so fun to watch her. In fact i wished i had video taped the whole series of actions.

I think this is what they call "simple joy"? I must say thank you to you, lolly for this everyday simple joy. The way you smile, and laugh, the way you tilt your head a little when you are shy, the way your mouth is pouty when you just wake from a slumber - they give me so much joy.

Now, where do I find a magic bottle to keepsake every ounce of your cuteness?