Papa's on holiday

Hubby held off going overseas since the last trip as we couldn't get a maid for a while. Now that our current maid seems stable (fingers crossed), off he is going again. Sigh. This time it's a week-long holiday in China/Macau. This trip is partly to visit relatives and partly a drinking/eating trip with his buddies. Neither the former nor latter interest me so... guess I shouldn't complain!

Our papa went to China already

Forgot to add in original post...
While hubby was packing and preparing for his trip, I found myself GLAD that I wasn't going. After spending a substantial amount of time overseas for work (many months each in Shanghai, Sydney, Melbourne, London and Leeds, weeks in HK, Singapore), I do like just being home.  And I was especially glad that I wasn't leaving my girls.

Little Miss Mischief

SOMEBODY got hold of Ah Kong's pill box with its compartments for each day of the week. And re-distributed the pills in there. Fortunately she left some pills on the floor and put the rest into ONE single compartment so Ah Kong knew something was up.  Otherwise he might have gulped down the wrong pills.

SOMEBODY put my freshly-picked lime into the toilet bowl. And flushed it. (Yes, limes go down when flushed!)

SOMEBODY regularly gets her hands on scissors by dragging a chair to wherever they are kept in high places. So far she has cut assorted books, a hole in her pants and her own eyelid in addition to acceptable items like brochures and advertisements.

SOMEBODY drew on the curtain also when other kids just draw on the walls.

These days, when some mischief is found especially when it's of an odd type, people say, 'Must be Jo Ern lah!' And yes, most times she IS the culprit.

Look, a flower! (broom in the fountain behind, yep that's her work)

Ah Kong says she is just curious. I suppose it's good that she's using her brain and exploring the world in her own way. Err I guess. Maybe. At least she has the grace to look guilty and does admit to her misdeeds!

My big girl, at 3.5 years old.

This dress har, can turn and dance wann!

Fell down

Waaaa I fell down!!!! WAAAAA!!

Eh somebody pick me up already! Waaaa

Hello?? Anybody? Waaaa

Anybody????? Waaaa

Bah. Looks like I have to do this myself 

Really must complain about the service here 

Continue.... *play play play*

My philosophy is, SOMETIMES when you ignore the problem long enough, it will go away by itself!

Papa's place

Last weekend hubby finally got a new mattress. Come afternoon nap time, JE came downstairs in a flood of tears.

JE:  Mummy... *sobs* I want to sleep in Papa's place
Me: Ohh. Jo Ern go and ask Papa ok? Where is Papa?
JE:  Sleeping
Me: Sleeping where?
JE:  In Papa's place

Obviously this was a matter between hubby and JE! I shoo-ed her back upstairs. When I went to check on her a while later, this is what I saw in a corner of our bedroom:

Zzzzz

Kiddo had made her own bed on the floor. With her bolster and pillow, my blanket and her doggy. Oh well... whatever works! She was fast asleep and hubby got to sleep on his own mattress. 

SE talks

SE does say some words now. First phrase was 'no more', which comes out as 'mo more'... said wistfully while she looks into her empty bowl. We knew she understood the meaning as it was often accompanied by this hand action:

Mo more....

All human beings are 'jie-jie!'.  She knows how to complain when JE doesn't give her something... come over and point to her while saying 'jie-jie... jie-jie...'.  Or just bawl, depending on her mood. :)  And in contrast to big sis JE who used to call all animals 'dog', SE calls them 'tat' (cat). Maybe one will be a dog-lover and the other a cat-lover? Hehe.

She says 'book' very clearly when she fetches books for people to read to her.  Also 'ball', 'duck', 'walk'. 'Ffffff' for fish, 'sshhhh' for shoe, 'thowww' for throw, 'wa wer' for flower, 'ta tak' for kakak (the maid).

Ta-tak is feeding me my lunch

And assorted other words when she tries to imitate what people say.  This is such a cute phase. *sigh*

And this is how to act cute

JE talks

JE can be quite a chatterbox. She punctuates with lots of Malaysian non-words like "lah", "har", "wan" etc. Sometimes foreign accents creep in - must be from the TV since she doesn't rub shoulders with non-Malaysians! Thought I'd record a few conversations that amused me...

1. Reporting her day

JE:  Today har, Ah Mah forgot to sew my pants. Because har, Ah Mah is VERY OLD already.
(My mother is not that old!)

2. At the recent Lantern Festival potluck, coaxing her to eat the lotus leaf rice that my mother contributed.

Me: Try this ok? Ah Mah made one. Later Ah Mah ask, Jo Ern try or not and Jo Ern will say... ?
JE:  YES!
Me: *Put rice into her mouth* Later Ah Mah ask, nice or not? And Jo Ern will say...?
JE:  NOT NAISSS!
(Heh tact is obviously not her specialty)

3. iPad
I've been playing some iPad games that require regular collecting/harvesting etc. Last night at midnight, I was doing that in the toilet when JE woke up and came in to do her big business:
JE: Why har, Mummy sit on the toilet bowl and play iPad? Then...
JE: People don't do that WANNNN.

Hehehe.

This one is my money bag!

My mummy har, always taking photos wannnn

Greedy guts

SE likes eating (unlike JE) and is inclined towards related activities. Like pretending to cook.  She will make stirring motions with a spoon and then when her 'food' is ready, smile and bring the spoon to her mouth . She will also bring that spoon to 'feed' people. Say 'ahmm ahmm!' and make eating motions and she will smile.

She will also come with thumb and forefinger together and give you something.  And if you don't know what she is trying to do, she will smack her lips to indicate she's bringing you food.  :)

Cook cook

Cook cook cook

I am really thankful that this one likes food. Last week I was busy trying to coax JE into eating some small biscuits. JE was busy focused on the TV. After asking her 5-6 times to eat her biscuit, I noticed the bowl was already empty.  ALL the biscuits were stuffed into little SE's bulging cheeks!