I NEED A BREAK!

I seriously need a break from all the 3 kids! I wonder when I can have a good break :( Aloysius is driving me crazy today. I cannot stand it already. I just feel like locking myself in the room all by myself. I dun wanna hear all their voices. Just want some quietness for now.

On one hand, I need a break, on other hand, it’s a waste of time for the kids. I could be doing lots of things for them. I could be reading, fixing puzzles, showing flashcards, playing with them, etc etc. So much to do… I feel like physically banging my head on the walls.

I wonder why Aloysius still will not go to the potty to urine on his own. Am I expecting too much? He will urine in the toilet when I bring him there every 15 minutes in the morning. I am just so tired of it all. He will not say when he needs to urine. Wonder when he will start telling me that he needs the toilet. I only have two hands for everything. Lucky I do not need to mop the floor. But the floor is getting so many patches. I gotta supervise the maid to make sure the floor is clean. All the patches come from all the drips from the wet cloth. Imagine urine everywhere the house and patches everywhere on the floor. I am fed up with it. Ok, I better go and hide myself in the room now.

It's lunch time for Aloysius now. But I don't feel like feeding him now. I need to gain back my sanity. Ya, I know. According to Shichida, I gotta be emotionally stable. How to be when I got so much to do? And no rest? No time for myself? "Working" 24 hours a day, every single day!

Head over heels today!

This afternoon, I had a visitor. It’s my sister’s friend. She’s a designer. She asked me one question which made me head over heels today. Hahaha… wanna know what? Dun tell you :P

You really wanna know? I told my hubby the question, and he laughed at me :( sobs…

Ok… I tell you ok? But promise me… Dun laugh at me ya? Hahaha… I am laughing first.

My sister’s friend asked me “Are you an air stewardess? Your skin looks so smooth and radiant.” Hmm… Maybe it’s the results of using my bar! MY BAR! Hahaha… Many people and friends have been telling me that I am looking very radiant. The color of my face is more even now. My sister told me that my freckles are now lighter too. Wow… My bar is so amazing! Not many products out there can remove freckles, you know?

When I was young, I want to be an air-stewardess because I love to travel, but could not, due to my size. I was overweight since kindergarten. And I was “pimple-faced” too. How can I be an air-stewardess, rite?

I was in my home tee and shorts and I haven’t wash my face with my bar for the day. My sister did not pre-inform me that her friend was coming. So I was not with make up, and was not in my best state to meet anyone. Well, I slimmed down a lot after my detox, and my weight maintained. Some people thought that it’s because I got 3 to look after, hence I slimmed down. Hmm… I feel that it’s more of my healthier body. My mum and many others gotta look after 4 kids, but did not maintain their weight and grew. Another thing is I must thank God that I found "my bar", else I might be looking like a “yellow face” woman having to look after and nurture 3 young kids.

Oh yes… I have a friend who has “bloody face” when we were in University days. “Bloody face” becos he had lots of big pimples with oozing pus and blood kind. Can you imagine the oozing pus and blood face? Ok ok.. dun wanna elaborate further on that. I feel like puking already. Let me tell you his story. He changed his diet and took Indinine, Vplus, FibrePlus for a few years. He has no more bleeding and pus oozing face. But, he has one problem. His face is full of “pot holes”. Some people say it’s like a world map. His “world map” is the result of those big and bloody pimples he had. He has been using "my bar" for a few months already. The deep seated holes are surfacing! Wow! How can that be rite? His face is getting smoother by the months, if not by weeks! Isn’t that amazing? He’s looking more and more radiant too.

Before I go off… Let me do a quick update on ABC.

Aloysius can count to thirty now :) He can recite the whole “ren zhi chu san zi jing”. He’s starting to sing now. He can sing “twinkle twinkle little star”, “baa baa black sheep”. Not many songs yet. I finally felt so satisfied that he will sit beside me to read a few books when in the library. I am not very sure if he can read on his own. I am hoping that he can read on his own. Two days ago, I was teaching him opposites from a book. It’s one word on one page with illustrations. I just taught him once and he got it. I like Eric Carle’s books titled “Polar bear, polar bear, what do you hear?”, “Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see?”, “Panda bear, panda bear, what do you see?”. Aloysius also likes these books. He will want me to read them repeatedly and say out loud with me. I borrowed these books and these books will be his bed time, and wake up time story books.

Bernice is sleeping less during the day now. Whenever we go out, she will be wide awake and looking around her surrounding. Last nite, I brought her with me to a business seminar. She was like replying and talking to the speaker. Hahaha… Luckily, the speaker did not mind her “talkativeness”. She can sleep on her own when she’s tired. Just put her down on the bed and she will fall asleep herself. Bernice loves the song “open and shut” at Julia Gabriel. She will give a wide smile when I sing this song to her. Today, I let Bernice crawled onto the marble floor. I guess she must have felt that the floor is cold and hard. I also put her in the car seat beside Aloysius when it’s flashcards time. She might not be a visual person. She will only look at the cards for a while, but will continue to sit there and listen. Hahaha… save me some time and effort in arranging separate sets of flashcards.

Charlene is also sleeping less during the day now. She will also be wide awake to look around when we go out. She’s very focused and has good concentration span for her age. Sometimes, when I put her on the bed, she will be lifting up her head and staring at the checker board. The board has some colorful stickers on them. She’s into flashcards now. She can last 15 minutes or more of flashcards session with Aloysius. She seems to love the stories from speed reading. Her eyes will light up. I also brought Charlene to a business seminar last nite. Well, in fact, my Bernice and Charlene will be at the weekly and monthly business seminars that I go. I will bring them there. Last nite, Charlene, after being fed, was also very happy and “replying” to the speaker. When the speaker talked about money, she got so excited and started kicking and “talking”!

Ok… Gotta go… Charlene will be waking for milk soon. She’s having a growth spurt, having to drink milk every 1-2 hours.

Tiring Day...

Today was a rather tiring day. We went out for almost the whole day. We went for lunch with a friend, then some shopping at Takashimaya, then class at Julia Gabriel. In the morning, usually gotta rush to get ABC showered and fed. If near to lunch time, gotta feed Aloysius lunch before we can go out. Cos he will fall asleep by latest 1pm. I still gotta prepare his lunch and start cooking earlier. And also the flashcards.

This morning, Aloysius was very funny. Dunno to laugh or to be angry. Hahaha… After his shower, he decided to play with water in the bath-tub. And he started to pour water on the floor. I like my bathroom to be dry. I told him “The floor is wet.” After he’s done with and bored with playing with the water and toys, I got him out and dressed him. Then I told him again “The floor is wet.” He repeated after me “Floor wet.” And ran out of the room. He went to the yard to get a broom and came back with the broom and said “sweep floor.” Hahaha… Then I told him, “If you sweep the floor like this, it’s going to be wet.” Guess what he said next… He said “Floor wet, mama very angry.” Wahahaha… It was so cute. Then I laughed, and he said “mama not angry.” Hahaha…

This afternoon, when I was shopping for shoes, Aloysius started to enjoy pushing the boxes of shoes and counting. I grabbed him and asked him to look at me. I took quite a while for him to look at me. He knew I was angry. Finally when he looked at my eyes, I told him

“Mama wants you to be a good boy. Mama don’t like what you did. Stop pushing all the boxes and behave. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mama.”

“Mama wants you to sit on the stroller now and remain seated. Do you understand?”

“Yes, mama.”

Then I put him on the stroller and he sat there till I paid and left :). Hmm.. easy “discipline” eh? I only did part of what Shichida said in his book about disciplining. Hahaha… I gotta revise and practice again. Discipline cannot be more than 2 minutes. When disciplining, I must have his attention and tell him that I love him, hence got angry with him. Then explain why I am angry. Then tell him how he should behave. Then at the end of it, gotta give him an 8 seconds hug. I have forgotten the hug… :P When I got time, I will write here or translate about discipline from the book, ya? :) I think it’s pretty effective. No need to spank nor scream nor tolerate bad behaviour. I can remember different “phases” of discipline are illustrated in the book, and how many seconds for each “phase”.

Okie dokie, I gotta go to bed already. Another outing day tomorrow. We are going to Botanical Gardens for a picnic!

Puzzles, puzzles, puzzles.

Aloysius is on his way to fixing a 28 pieces puzzle on his own :). He loves puzzles now. He will play with two sets of his puzzles everyday. One is the alphabet puzzle train which was from Jezoir last Christmas. And the other one is an animal farm puzzle. These are the only puzzles that he has now. He can recognize all the alphabets now. Perhaps it’s due to the weekly pointing and singing of ABC song during Shichida class starting from 6 months old for a year. He’s slowly able to fix the ABC puzzle on his own in sequence. Initially, I gotta guide him which letter is next. Now, he can do it on his own till letter G. Sometimes, I will only tell him the sound, and he will find the letter. He knows phonics too. He loves to listen to his one and only one phonics songs CD when traveling in the car. I am glad that he has the concentration to finish fixing the puzzles.

First train ride on KTM train.

We brought ABC for their very first train ride on the KTM train to Segamat on Saturday. It was a fun and enjoyable day. The train was late for an hour and it finally arrived at 9.30am. Aloysius was scared. He sat on the chair and clung on to the chair tightly when the train arrived. Perhaps he's afraid of the loud engine sound. My hubby carried him on the train. On the train, he wanted me to carry and hug him. I carried him all the way till Segamat. He had a nap during the journey too.



My BIL's brother drove to the station to pick us up to fetch us to Tangkak. We had lots of delicious durian! Aloysius refused to eat durian. He will run away when you ask him if he wants durian. hahaha... He's really my "ang mo" child. Speak Mandarin with "ang mo" accent, and now, cannot stand the taste of durian. How to make him more Asian? I gave him a small piece of durian and he played with it with water.




After the durian feast, we went to visit two chicken farms. Aloysius absolutely enjoyed himself at the farm and refused to go home. He enjoyed chasing after the chickens, catching and stroking the chickens very much. We will bring him there again :) This time, he explored the farm with 8 days old chickens. Maybe next time older chickens.




My BIL's relatives are so amazed at Bernice and Charlene :) They were very happy too with so many people to talk to them and keep them company, while mommy and daddy enjoyed durian feast and chased after exploring Aloysius.

I am looking forward to bring them out again somewhere :) Maybe Penang is next, or perhaps Bintan :)

Updated photos of ABC.

It's me, Charlene! I am learning to crawl and going further by the days. I can flip too. I got the fun of communicating now.


It's me, Bernice! I am a very happy baby. I can chuckle when you make me laugh. I am learning communication and can "talk" with you when you talk to me.


It's me, Aloysius! I am learning how to speak in proper sentences now. Mommy is trying to get me to speak more in Mandarin lately. I can imitate in whatever language now. I am a language genius! I am so happy everyday. I love to explore and play. I do not need toys though cos I am a creative imitator. hahaha...

Early Riser.

I am waking up at 3am again. Why? I dunno. I just cannot fall asleep. I have a lot of things in my mind. One of them is money management. Hahaha… “My part-time business is managing and investing my money and creating passive income streams.” This is one of the verses in “Attitude of Wealth” from T.Harv Eker. I got this “Attitude of Wealth” verses stuck on my wardrobe. I will read them on and off.

I am wondering if it’s due to the coffee that I drank yesterday afternoon. That’s my very first cup of coffee after years, ever since my detox before I got pregnant with Aloysius! I am still fully breastfeeding though. Some how, I am craving for coffee lately. Why? I dunno. Maybe stress. Maybe my body is acidic. Yesterday, my maid fell sick. She had a headache when she woke up in the morning. So I asked her to drink lots of water and have some rest. I settled my ABC on my own. And guess what… I almost forgot to shower Aloysius in the morning! Hahaha… I showered him just before we went out for his Julia Gabriel playclub class. Luckily, after resting for the morning, she’s fine already. Thank God for that. Else I dunno how to bring Aloysius for class.

It has been some time ago that I write about Aloysius’ diet.

He’s now 2 years old already. I have successfully 100% keep him out of food with sugar and salt for 2 years! That’s a challenge in a family of chefs. I had constant nagging and reasoning why we need salt and sugar. You will be surprised at the reasons the older generations can come up with. Even deep fried food is also needed by our body cos we need the oil, while it’s widely promoted by the health promotion board throughout the world that deep fried food are no good for health. What a contradiction!

Well, when I talk about “sugar”, I am referring to refined sugar. Do you know that sugar is not supposed to be white? How come it’s white? I also kept him off from the “hidden sugar” in food like bread, cakes, etc. I believe in getting the “sugar” we need from fruits. There’s lots of it. Aloysius loves fruits a lot. Nowadays, he loves dragonfruit and kiwi.

A very strong belief that my mum has about salt is “no salt, so tasteless, how to eat?” Well, for us adults who has been eating lots of food that are laden with salt and sugar, of course, we cannot swallow plain food. Tastebuds are cultivated, but my mum just does not understand this. Hmm… I am worried when she’s the chef behind Aloysius food. I told her strictly no salt and strictly no sugar at all. Sometimes, she will tell me “a little bit”. Well, her “little bit” can be a lot, and it’s not measured in grams. I am a researcher, you see. Everything gotta be quantified for a fair comparison. But she does not understand too. You know, I have been drinking soup without adding any salt and sugar. When my mum boils soup, it’s very tasty. She told me only “a little bit” of salt. Sometimes it gets a bit salty, even to my taste. It could be too salty for Aloysius. Most and utmost importantly, there’s no MSG. She used to put Knorr chicken stock into the food to make it more “delicious”. And chicken stock has “no MSG”, according to her. Duh… Well, my aunt also says that those commercial powdered chicken stock does not have MSG, cos without it, the food does not taste good. She gotta accept my disagreement ultimately and listen to me, but with some nagging and reasoning here and there.

I make sure my kitchen has sea salt and unrefined sugar only. For me, I will use sea salt on my vegetables. For my soup, there will be no salt added too. I will put in lots of ingredients to make it tasty. But it’s still tasteless to my sisters and parents. Aloysius is also into eating what I eat too. Hence I gotta use the more healthy seasoning. Sometimes, I use miso paste. When I buy miso paste, I will read the labels to make sure there’s no benito and other preservatives.

Aloysius tasted the first piece of cake at his friend’s, Damien’s, birthday party. It’s a week before he turns two. He was eyeing on the cake and kept wanting the cake. But after giving him one small slice, after he had finished it, he did not want more. Hmm… Probably it’s because the cake is sweet and he’s not used to sweet food. Good rite? That’s what I want to cultivate. A few of my friends who are strict with their children’s diet also feedback that their children, will take sweets, but only a little and will not finish them. Aloysius had his birthday cake too. On his birthday, when I was busy, Aloysius was fed with his own cake when he already had enough. He was chased around to be fed the cake. Haiz… You see… When you tell the old folks that he can eat a little… A little can be a lot… and they make sure he eats. I am tempted to say “no” cake at all. Then, I will continue to have nagging and reasonings.

Having blog all these, I am very thankful that my kids have very concern grandparents, and I am thankful for their unconditional love they showered on Aloysius, Bernice and Charlene. And also their willingness and eagerness to help in looking after them. It’s really a joy to see them growing up happy and being loved by so many people :)

Aloysius will eat my vegetables too. He loves broccoli and cauliflower now. His lunch will either be noodles or rice, plus soup and some of my vegetables. His soup will not have added salt and sugar, but with lots of ingredients – minimum 5 types of vegetables. I found noodles without salt finally. His dinner will be rice, soup and vegetables. Sometimes, he will have cod fish for dinner. Perhaps once or twice a month. Hahaha… plus lots of Vplus to get rid of the heavy metals from his body, if there’s any.

Oh yes, do you know the power of the radio and television? Recently, there are talks and shows about diet for babies and toddlers and children. My parents seem to agree with whatever information listened from the radio and shown on TV! They will tell me some of the things that I have been doing and they had disagreed on. I just wonder why they do not believe me. I am a researcher and I do my research, be sure before I execute.

Even for the flashcards, I had lots of disagreement when I started with Aloysius. After the TV shows showing the abilities of young kids through learning from flashcards, my sisters and parents keep asking if I do flashcards for Bernice and Charlene. I still do flashcards for Aloysius and he loves them. When I told him “it’s flashcards time”, he will arrange my chair in front of the sofa for me, and he will sit on the sofa and wait for me to get the cards. He will always ask for “more cards, more cards”. When I am done with two packs of cards, I will tell him “tomorrow morning”. Nowadays, I just need to say “no more cards”, and he will continue with “tomorrow morning”. Hahaha… Cute rite? There are lots of other outputs from him. I am not supposed to “test” him, but at least I know my efforts are not wasted. He knows parts of the body and can count 1-10 in Malay. He can certainly count 1-20 in English and Mandarin. I am trying to get him to count till 30 by the end of the month. I think it’s already an accomplishment for a 2 year old. He knows many verses of “san zi jing”. The limitation is on mommy who needs to catch up. I need the book to read! He knows “cheng yu”. I just tell him the first 3 words and he will complete the last word for me. He knows “species of butterflies”. A few days ago, when I was surfing the web for species of butterflies to find out how to create flashcards on the life cycle of butterflies, he pointed to me “peacock”. Yes, that particular species of butterfly is called “peacock”. I wonder if he knows Japanese, French, German too. He said a few words here and there when he was listening to the foreign languages songs. It’s mommy here who do not understand these languages. Oops… I better stop here. Next time, when you see Aloysius, do not test him and praise him too much ok? Not suppose to do that… This is the road to arrogance, according to Prof. Shichida. I only want him to have the abilities to be a leader in future, and he has the abilities to pick up things very fast. I am exposing him to many languages now even though I do not speak them. The aim is to give him a headstart in these languages, and be able to pick up the languages he needs in future in whatever he does. I think this will be an invaluable gift we are giving him. These, must thank my hubby for the financial investment in the classes and materials. Oh yes, Aloysius’ classmate at Shichida class can spell! She’s 4 months older than Aloysius and she can spell already. Give her a word with the letters jumbled up, and she can tell you the word. Wow! Super smart, indeed! The mother, a teacher, also used flashcards to teach spelling. The mother will spend 2 hours daily to teach her since she was a baby.

Let’s talk about Aloysius’ social skills development. His teacher at Julia Gabriel, Rueben, commented that he has improved leaps this term. He’s now more aware of his surroundings. He’s no longer engrossed in his own world. 2 days ago, when we were at the polyclinic, he saw another toddler. He went to her, danced and sang in front of her, trying to make her laugh. Hahaha… It was pretty funny cos it’s the first time he’s aware of other kids around him.

Another thing to share before I go off to bed again, 2 years old is the memory genius phase. To nurture superb memory, gotta be NOW, according to Prof. Shichida. It’s making me quite “kan cheong” cos Aloysius does not like linking memory game. Part of the reason is mommy does not like it too, and did not spend much time in looking for memory materials. Gotta buck up in that…

Wah… So much about Aloysius already. Just a little about Bernice and Charlene. Charlene can crawl out of the mattress already. Yesterday, she crawled out of the mattress and her face touched the cold, hard floor. When she sleeps, she’s rotating 360 degree. Bernice is getting there too. Bernice and Charlene are 6.2kg and 7.15kg respectively, as of 9 July 2008 (3.5 months old). They are fully breastfed for 3.5 months already. Time flies…

Inspired?

I was looking for more information on Astaxanthin while my ABC are asleep :) I am evaluating a new product that will be released out in mid-July08. It is more advanced than Indinine called MMA. The only difference from Indinine is the addition of Astaxanthin, which apparently will make MMA more potent.

Anyway, I wanna write that I came across this article: http://brainloops.blogspot.com/2008/05/business-and-sales-by-15-year-old.html

The ending is “Business and sales is the top reason of people becoming hella rich. lol!” hmm… I kinda agree with it. From my personal experience, when I do more sales, I get more money. Recently, my hubby was amazed at how much $$$ I can contribute to my dad’s heart bypass surgery. He asked me how come I have so much to contribute and still have $$$ in my bank account. Hahaha… Well, I dun have “private money” hor… My sis labeled me having a “chai diam ma” in Hokkien, something like having a seven eleven at home. Hahaha…

Imagine if I am an employee. If I get more sales, I might get more in commission if I am lucky. Why not sell for yourself? A lot of people do not like to sell, they do not like sales. Where can the money come from if one does not wanna do sales? Good sales people are RICH! Sales and marketing is very important according to T.Harv Eker too. The Guerilla business intensive is all about coming out with a superb marketing plan! That’s where the money is :)

Hey, if you are interested in business, I am supplying a new, fantastic, revolutionary product - Eumora. Other backend products coming very soon. We can be partners. You can start small. Well, most businesses start from small, ain’t it? If you have the volume, you can even be a supplier or distributor. I am more interested in business to business :) This is a lucrative business in wellness and beauty! Email to me if you are interested.

LinnaUng at gmail dot com.