The big one put a water bottle on the table to chope it. The littlest one takes it away. I told him to put it back, with the comment that other people will sit on the table ( since it has been un-chope-d) without the bottle. He takes it back. Comes back with this wide-eyed-i'm-so-incredulous look and a question for me. "Can the bottle shoo people away? When people come, it says SHOO?" I look at him, and try not to react. He goes back to the table, and tells the bottle in his usual loud voice. "Hello? I'm here. Can you say Shoo?" Comes back to me with a smug. "See? the bottle cannot shoo people away!" I'm thinking... he's just four and a bit and talks like a gangster already. Thankfully by then, his four siew mai and one char siew pau is paid for. He can start eating at the table of the incompetent bottle that cannot shoo people away, and shut up.
Wednesday, March 09, 2016
Wednesday, November 16, 2011
A new beginning...
Monday, October 17, 2011
Wealth
If you woke up this morning
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If you can read this message,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways
you may never even know.
...Author Unknown
with more health than illness,
you are more blessed than the
million who won't survive the week.
If you have never experienced
the danger of battle,
the loneliness of imprisonment,
the agony of torture or
the pangs of starvation,
you are ahead of 20 million people
around the world.
If you have food in your refrigerator,
clothes on your back, a roof over
your head and a place to sleep,
you are richer than 75% of this world.
If you have money in the bank,
in your wallet, and spare change
in a dish someplace, you are among
the top 8% of the world's wealthy.
If you can read this message,
you are more blessed than over
two billion people in the world
that cannot read anything at all.
You are so blessed in ways
you may never even know.
...Author Unknown
Sunday, October 02, 2011
Instant noodles
He woke me up to tell me he was hungry.
He asked if he could cook noodles by himself... I nodded and went back to sleep.
He asked if it should be half a bowl of water for half a pack of noodles.... I mumbled "en"... and dozed off.
He asked if he could add an egg.... "ok"... zzzzz
He asked if he could add powder directly to his noodles because it wasn't spicy..."orh"... zzz
When I finally crawled out of bed, he was done eating. He's managed to cook and feed himself! House wasn't burnt down... although there was seasoning powder on the kitchen floor, around the stove, on the coffee table, some noodles on the sofa and ... dirty dishes lying around.
He asked if he could cook noodles by himself... I nodded and went back to sleep.
He asked if it should be half a bowl of water for half a pack of noodles.... I mumbled "en"... and dozed off.
He asked if he could add an egg.... "ok"... zzzzz
He asked if he could add powder directly to his noodles because it wasn't spicy..."orh"... zzz
When I finally crawled out of bed, he was done eating. He's managed to cook and feed himself! House wasn't burnt down... although there was seasoning powder on the kitchen floor, around the stove, on the coffee table, some noodles on the sofa and ... dirty dishes lying around.
Monday, September 19, 2011
Pringles
He put 2 short cans of sour cream and onion Pringles into the cart.
I told him to put one back. He ignored me. I repeated... he went, "Har?"... repeated a second time. He went, "Har?"
Frustrated with his loss of hearing, I said, "Put both back!" He took one look at me, measured my resolve, and scooted off with the cart before his Vitagen gets threatened as well.
Came back grinning, with one can.
I looked at the can and then at him, and asked, "So the can grew up?"
He laughs....
I pay.
I told him to put one back. He ignored me. I repeated... he went, "Har?"... repeated a second time. He went, "Har?"
Frustrated with his loss of hearing, I said, "Put both back!" He took one look at me, measured my resolve, and scooted off with the cart before his Vitagen gets threatened as well.
Came back grinning, with one can.
I looked at the can and then at him, and asked, "So the can grew up?"
He laughs....
I pay.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Nothing much ...
... been alone for a month. Me having all the time to myself and me exhausting all my writing energy on flyers, brochures, emails and reports.
It's kind of nice though, to hear that the big one was asked by my son's teacher whether he (my son) has English tuition, because the boy's English is ok she says. I better not read in-between the lines else I'd go off on a spiel about the education system back home. The big one told her, "No. Mother teach."Also nice to know that his maths and Chinese are ok too.
The boy though, has decided that he prefers school here in Shanghai ( not a problem now but would be an issue when we move back to Singapore). Other than seaweed, chips (same store) and drinks from the vending machine, he's not attempted to buy anything else from the canteen. He's bought a Chinese chess set, a Singapore flag, some stickers for his cousins and not sure if he did buy it eventually, but definitely something he did consider buying - a mechanical multi-colored pencil, from the bookshop.
His Summer Holiday
- lots of meals with the family
- 3-day beach holiday in Mersing, Malaysia
- had a blast at a gathering with his kindergarten school friends
- went to Universal Studios ( pong-tang school one Friday) with his dad.
- survived 8 violin lessons with his 'old' violin teacher
- spent one evening at the new Pasir Ris public swimming pool
- went cycling at East Coast Beach a couple of times
- went to school for 6 weeks
- fell ill for a week
- had his jabs
- went to the dentist
- had a wonderful birthday party at downtown east explorer (organized and paid for by my dear girlfriends)
- didn't finish his summer holiday school work
He's flying back here tomorrow.
Another year begins
It's kind of nice though, to hear that the big one was asked by my son's teacher whether he (my son) has English tuition, because the boy's English is ok she says. I better not read in-between the lines else I'd go off on a spiel about the education system back home. The big one told her, "No. Mother teach."Also nice to know that his maths and Chinese are ok too.
The boy though, has decided that he prefers school here in Shanghai ( not a problem now but would be an issue when we move back to Singapore). Other than seaweed, chips (same store) and drinks from the vending machine, he's not attempted to buy anything else from the canteen. He's bought a Chinese chess set, a Singapore flag, some stickers for his cousins and not sure if he did buy it eventually, but definitely something he did consider buying - a mechanical multi-colored pencil, from the bookshop.
His Summer Holiday
- lots of meals with the family
- 3-day beach holiday in Mersing, Malaysia
- had a blast at a gathering with his kindergarten school friends
- went to Universal Studios ( pong-tang school one Friday) with his dad.
- survived 8 violin lessons with his 'old' violin teacher
- spent one evening at the new Pasir Ris public swimming pool
- went cycling at East Coast Beach a couple of times
- went to school for 6 weeks
- fell ill for a week
- had his jabs
- went to the dentist
- had a wonderful birthday party at downtown east explorer (organized and paid for by my dear girlfriends)
- didn't finish his summer holiday school work
He's flying back here tomorrow.
Another year begins
Monday, August 08, 2011
Our phone call
Told him I bought a monopoly card game but have not tried it yet because I have nobody to play with.
> He tells me I should open it and start reading the instructions so that we can play it when he gets here.
Told him I also bought a 2X2 rubik cube and that I tried to very hard solve it but couldn't. Explained that these cubes normally come in 3X3... he knows what it is but couldn't understand what I meant by 2X2.
Told him we'd give him a budget to buy his own birthday present at the toy shop.
> What's a budget? He asks.
Well, it's an amount of money.
> Twenty dollars?
I think it's going to be a bit more than that... if it's not enough, you can use your savings to top up. Or if it's too much, you can save it for another day.
> Orh.
Then we talked about the Toys R 'Us in Shanghai vs. the one in Singapore. Told him to shop in Singapore because the price is cheaper.
> It's because one Singapore dollar is 5 Renminbi, that's why it's more expensive.
No, when you do the conversion, it is still cheaper.
> What is a conversion? He asks.
...I explained with a couple of examples...
> Orh. Then proceeds to tell me he wants a control car... the one that is being sold in Shanghai - the one that comes with the steering wheel.
He tells me when he is coming back to Shanghai and that I should buy some dumplings from the market the day before he arrives so that we can cook them when he gets here.
I told him I cleaned up our apartment.
> He made me promise to drive his 'drifting car' on the floor to test (the cleanliness)....saying I should be able to make the remote control car crash to the wall if the floor is smooth.
I told him about the green worm I found curled up on the handle of our electric kettle.
> He asked if the worm got electrified.
Told him no, electric kettle is for boiling water. Won't electrify the worm. Told him I threw the worm away
> Asks why I never take some newspaper, put the worm on it - a newspaper big enough so that it will not crawl on my fingers - and bring it downstairs to the bushes.
Told him I didn't think about it... because I'm a girl and I don't like worms.
> He laughs, tell me he is not afraid of creepy crawlies and asks what I would do if he had a creepy crawlie.
I told him he would have to live alone.
> He tells me he doesn't like spider webs but he is ok with spiders. He doesn't like them because of the insects on the web. Tells me that spiders live in between rocks and that the web is only for catching their breakfast, lunch and dinner.
(I didn't know that!)
> Tells me again I should have brought the worm downstairs...
What if I threw it out of the window?
> Then it will smash onto the ground!!!
Oh.
> He tells me I should open it and start reading the instructions so that we can play it when he gets here.
Told him I also bought a 2X2 rubik cube and that I tried to very hard solve it but couldn't. Explained that these cubes normally come in 3X3... he knows what it is but couldn't understand what I meant by 2X2.
Told him we'd give him a budget to buy his own birthday present at the toy shop.
> What's a budget? He asks.
Well, it's an amount of money.
> Twenty dollars?
I think it's going to be a bit more than that... if it's not enough, you can use your savings to top up. Or if it's too much, you can save it for another day.
> Orh.
Then we talked about the Toys R 'Us in Shanghai vs. the one in Singapore. Told him to shop in Singapore because the price is cheaper.
> It's because one Singapore dollar is 5 Renminbi, that's why it's more expensive.
No, when you do the conversion, it is still cheaper.
> What is a conversion? He asks.
...I explained with a couple of examples...
> Orh. Then proceeds to tell me he wants a control car... the one that is being sold in Shanghai - the one that comes with the steering wheel.
He tells me when he is coming back to Shanghai and that I should buy some dumplings from the market the day before he arrives so that we can cook them when he gets here.
I told him I cleaned up our apartment.
> He made me promise to drive his 'drifting car' on the floor to test (the cleanliness)....saying I should be able to make the remote control car crash to the wall if the floor is smooth.
I told him about the green worm I found curled up on the handle of our electric kettle.
> He asked if the worm got electrified.
Told him no, electric kettle is for boiling water. Won't electrify the worm. Told him I threw the worm away
> Asks why I never take some newspaper, put the worm on it - a newspaper big enough so that it will not crawl on my fingers - and bring it downstairs to the bushes.
Told him I didn't think about it... because I'm a girl and I don't like worms.
> He laughs, tell me he is not afraid of creepy crawlies and asks what I would do if he had a creepy crawlie.
I told him he would have to live alone.
> He tells me he doesn't like spider webs but he is ok with spiders. He doesn't like them because of the insects on the web. Tells me that spiders live in between rocks and that the web is only for catching their breakfast, lunch and dinner.
(I didn't know that!)
> Tells me again I should have brought the worm downstairs...
What if I threw it out of the window?
> Then it will smash onto the ground!!!
Oh.
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