Ramblings of a Mami of Two

Kimi sekarang has acquired the habit of reading a story book every night before he goes to sleep. Finally!!! After a year plus of me reading to the dinding and bantal, Kimi now will listen to the story I read to him from cover to cover. Yeay! And lagi best, he wont let me stop at one book. Usually he'll ask for 2-3 books sampai he gets tired and will sleep on his own.  Currently his fav book is "The Great Paper Caper" by Oliver Jeffers. It's about a bear who steals tree branches from the forest to make paper planes. I dont know kenapa Kimi suka, aku pun sebenarnya dah nak muntah baca buku ni everynight for the last two weeks.  Actually we have 3 other titles by the same author; Way Back Home, How To Catch A Star and The Heart and the Bottle. Memang kitorang  collect pun buku by him. Kimi pun suka all the books. We stumbled upon his book by accident at the BookXcess and we became fans eversince! The storylines are simple with absolutely stunning graphics. There are 5...

but he only knows how to do no. 2 in the toilet. Well, I've won half the battle already! Anyways, he seems to only be aware of the need to stay clean of his poop, not his pee.Lemme share with you our potty-training journey so far: We started a couple of months ago, by just telling him how awesome it is to stay clean from his poop and pee. We also taught him what to say when he wants to pee, "Mommyyy mommyyy Kimi nak pee! (or yak)! Toilet jom!" And he'd happily repeat this, without really understanding when or how to use it.  Occasionally we would get him to go commando (i.e. without diaper) for half a day, scheduled his toilet trips every half hour, and taught him how to position himself comfortably on the toilet seat.  Then magic happened. Sometime between a couple of months ago and last week, I suppose Kimi began to be aware of his bodily functions. Last week, he told me that he needed to do No. 2. He came to me and said, " Mommyyyy nak yakkk. mommy...

Mak, jom kita kemas rumah tiap2 hari sabtu. Kalau jual boleh kaya mak. Just Say No to Too Much Stuff Stuff. For many of us it's worse than any four-letter word. That's because "stuff" can weigh you down and hold you back, says Gail Blanke, author of Throw Out Fifty Things. And, in the end, much of what we accumulate in life isn't all that important. As Marilyn Bohn, author of Go Organize! , points out, "No one ever says, 'I wish I'd kept more stuff.'" Still, getting rid of our discards can be a challenge. Carla Eskelsen, a mom in Farmington, Utah, admits she had trouble letting go of stuff until she figured out how to manage her "pioneer DNA." Once she figured out that donating and recycling "honored" her pioneer ancestors, she found it much easier. "It's about sharing and blessing others instead of keeping it all for yourself," she says. Here's how you can share and bless others with all of you...

I've read somewhere that I'm supposed to buy Kimi stuff that will boost his creativity. Playdoh is on top of my list but those in Toy's R Us are very expensive lah! But worry not, I have found the perfect recipe for home made play doh that wont burn a kawah comet in your pocket. It doesn't take long to make too. So here goes: Ingredients 1 cup white flour 1/2 cup salt 2 tablespoon cream of tartar (find it in the spice section) 1 tablespoon oil 1 cup water food coloring Methods Mix first 4 ingredients in a pan. Add water and mix well. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 3 – 5 minutes. Dough will become difficult to stir and form a “clump”. Remove from stove and knead for 5 minutes–add food coloring during kneading process. Play dough will keep for a long time stored in a covered plastic container or plastic sandwich. The amount of doh is just perfect, tiap2 warna ada cukup doh for kimi to play with. I find the texture and elasticity of the doh...

About raising a kid Kids respond better to positive words. eg. " Baby, promise mommy you'll behave tonight. " instead of " Kimi jangan naughty tau nanti mommy puk ". 85% of the time he will behave. For the other 15%, terpaksa la marah when you've passed your patience threshold. Sebenarnya they are testing you, they just wanna see how far they can go. They like to get involved with whatever it is ur doing, like pushing the luggage trolley. They like to feel important. It keeps' em well behaved too. eg. " Kimi, mommy nak pack barang. Kimi tolong pack toys kimi and put them in this bag boleh? " Kids will be happy if you said you trust them to behave. More often than not they WILL behave. But sometimes hitting them does the trick just as well. There is nothing much to worry about if your kid doesnt wanna eat at mealtime. They will eat when they're hungry. But this is made easier when he can talk, because he will let you know when he's hu...

1. Sit Down! Now is the time to teach that meals play an important role in our day. Make breakfast-lunch-dinner definite sit-down-to-eat occasions, even if it's just for 10 or 15 minutes at a time. 2. Doesn't This Look Good? Talk it up! Comment on the yummy smells from the oven, or how pretty and juicy the steak looks. Little kids "eat with their eyes" just like adults do. 3. It's a Dinner, Not a Diner! And that means no short order cooking! From earliest eating days, children can and should eat what everyone else at the table is eating. 4. Focus on the Whole Meal If you're serving chicken, peas, and rice for dinner, then your kid should have chicken, peas, and rice on her plate, too. What if she scarfs down the rice and wants more? Not until she has a bite or two of the rest of the items in the meal.   5. Spice It Up Don't be afraid to let your child sample spicier dishes, like those found in Indian or Mexican cuisines. If it's really t...

Masa tengah gila shopping baju baby dulu, Ach and I main belasah je beli semua onesies , tshirts, and pants yang kitorang rasa cute. I mean, we were two excited first-time parents, semua benda pun kitorang rasa cute. Macam allergic tengok shops like Brands Outlet or FOS Kids.Asal nampak je mesti masuk, dah tu mesti beli. Kalau keluar shopping nak cari baju Mommy, alih2 baju mommy tade baju kimi gak tambah lagi satu. Or tiga. Udahnya in the end, Kimi's clothes bertimbun2 memang lagi banyak dari baju aku, sampai tak terpakai2 pun. The only reason tak pakai is because those baju are onesies, which were very adorable on Kimi when he was still a baby. But Kimi kan dah almost 2 years now, jadi I don't like to dress him in onesies anymore. I think onesies are cute on infants, not toddlers. Not even when worn with pants outside. Skema ish ish. Jadinya I have quite a couple of new onesies yang cantik, nak pakai macam skema, tak pakai sayang. Thanks to TinyDecor , I had turned his ones...

Since I became maidless, I have tried my best to make a lot of things convenient for me. That includes, mostly, closing one eye over a messy house and unfolded laundries, as well as developing thick skin when seeing mak lipat kain while I baring2 dekat living room. The thing is, I AM embarrassed when mak does the laundry and folding and storing them in my closet. But, my job is too demanding that by the time I get back I just don’t have the brain space to do as much as watch tv. All I want is get a good shower and eat and play2 and sleep (at 930!). I just leave the unfolded laundry in the maid’s room and turn it into a whole messy closet of mine. As in, korek2 je underneath the rubble of baju and I sure will find my bra hidden somewhere. See, that’s convenient for me. Okay I digress. Sorry. Back to the story, since I can’t exactly tell mak to stop doing the laundry, I took over the task of cooking dinner. What I’ve been doing since the past 3 weeks is I spend a good deal of my Saturday...

Hi. My days are getting pretty mundane and pretty much routine nowadays, no new discoveries so far. I'm pretty much used to seeing homeless kids and people's penises. Hopefully I will have something else to write about soon. Today I'm going to share with you how I prepared my husband for my long absence from home. It's a tough challenge you know, being maidless and all. But I have no doubt in him. He's a super daddy, he gets hands-on on a lot of things. To help ach manage I prepared him a manual. Yes, like the ones you get when you buy a new rice cooker. I think writing the manual is a sweet and brilliant idea! Okay okay I gotta give credits where its due, it was Nadiah Zawani Tamzil who gave me the idea. Amazing, eh? I am not sure how useful the manual is for him, because he already knows what to do and how to do them. But the very idea of having a manual is too cute I just couldn't pass the opportunity to make one! Nadiah suggested the title, "Manual for ...

I’m always amazed at kids who have good manners. Manners like, say hi if they saw you, or shake your hands when you go to their houses, or offering to help you carry your extra bags. Or tolong dekat dapur. Or buat kuih raya. I want my kids to be like those kids. Sons or daughters, they must be equally sopan santun and adept at doing housework. My ideal picture of the kids is they would all exhibit sopan-ness, depan orang or tak depan orang, and will help me with the dishes at home, willingly or not, that’s another story. Tapi preferably willingly la. Ach and I try our best to be a good example in front of my one year old son. We say please when we request for something, we say thank you after that, and we ( read=I ) try our very best not to say bad things (i.e. any four letter words) in front of him. We make sure he salam the elderly bila pergi rumah sapa-sapa and say bye bye bila nak balik. Teehehe. Ach demonstrates gender equality by helping with the dishes and cooking (t his is tr...