First - A day of firsts for a little girl and Mommy

What a day this has been!

For the little girl, this is her first day at school! To a parent, this is an exciting day. To a little girl of 2 years and a quarter, this is a frightening day indeed. From her point of view, she's been taken away from her mother, for no reason, and left with a bunch of strange adults and kids!

Some kids may be too happy to play with other kids but Yan is different. She cried and howled until she had to be carried away by a teacher kicking and and screaming. I left immediately as I didn't want to set any precedent that Mommy could stay during school hours. For the whole session, she hung on to the teacher for her dear life. Poor thing, I wondered how long it would take for her to say goodbye to me with a smile.

For Mommy, she got involved in her first car accident! Nothing major, just a broken non-consequential side lamp for me and a broken rear brake light and a dent in the bumper for the other party. Hubby's first question was whether the kids were okay. Good man!

It was a bit scary because I was alone with 3 small kids and I knew it was my fault. It didn't help that the other party was a rather hostile couple. In my opinion, they were over-hostile considering the "severity" of the damage. Luckily, hubby was just a phonecall away. He provided the courage I needed to stand my ground.

Lesson learned: don't expect sympathy from people just because you're a "helpless" woman with small children. They may view it as your weakness and take advantage of you.

Antenna or dish? Hubby has installed ...

By dish, I mean the Astro dish. A house without Astro is like ... a person who eats nasi lemak without the sambal? My house is such a house and I'm such a person but we'll leave the food for another post. Today's word is ... antenna.

Yes, hubby got the tv antenna installed today to get clear reception ahead of tomorrow's first race of the Formula One season but we'll leave racecars out of today's post. The poor guy followed last season's races through poor tv reception and delayed results via internet/newspapers. I think that was a big sacrifice considering all the drama and unprecedented excitement last season. (btw, I'm glad Kimi won. He's much more good looking than Lewis and Fernando :)

He wanted Astro "for the kids" but I put my foot down and said no. The kids are already watching way too much tv. With tv and dvd, there's a limit to watching time. Enforcement is much harder with round-the-clock Disney channel. Don't get me started on the violence in some cartoons nowadays. Parental lock? Me think: why invite a tiger into your house, then think of ways to control the tiger? Might as well don't invite the tiger, then no headaches!

Dizigui 1 & 2

Since CNY, my whole family has attended the dizigui classes twice. Heng and Jien are in separate classes with kids their ages. Hubby, Yan and I are in the parents' class. The reason for parents' class is so that parents know how to live the dizigui principles and become examples for the kids to follow. Consistency in parents' actions and what they tell the kids to do is very important, hence the Malay proverb : Do not be as the father crab teaches the son walk straight ahead :)

These first two classes has not gone into details of the principles. They were more introductory in nature, letting parents know the history and importance of dizigui in shaping a person, hence a society, of value and character. The speaker in our class was the vice principal of a Chinese primary school. She spoke of examples of kids gone astray due to lack of proper guidance. There were also examples of how a parent's conduct and emphasis of matter would impart values upon a child. Whether the values are good or bad depend on the conduct and what matter is emphasized as perceived by the child. The conduct may be something trivial in an adult's view point but the effect on the child may have far reaching consequences. Exaggerated? Consider this :-

• A mother dresses up her young daugther like a doll: different hairstyle everyday, fancy clothes, mini skirts, high heels, make up, accesories etc. Mother may think that it's a girl's perogative to look beautiful or afraid that she'll grow up a tomboy. Such emphasis on looks is akin to telling the child to concentrate her efforts on her appearance instead of her education. What is more important?
• A mother is obsessed with her own body weight and figure. Is it any wonder if her daughter is bulimic or anorexic?
• A parent who reads to and visits the library with her children emphasis the importance of knowledge and education. The children can't help but fall in love with books.

Don't underestimate a comment ("I look fat in this dress!") or an action (putting your arm out of a moving car to feel the wind). Our children are always watching...

Cameron - A trip to the highlands

We just got home from a two-night trip Cameron Highlands. This was a maiden trip for hubby and the kids to Cameron. As for me, it brought back a lot of memories as Cameron was a favourite getaway for my extended family.

Hubby's lasting impression on Cameron was COLD. The rain on the first night spoiled hubby's plans. We couldn't leave the apartment and it was so cold that hubby was afraid that the kids would catch cold. The boys couldn't sleep soundly because of the cold. I couldn't sleep soundly because the boys woke me up. Due to lack of sleep the whole brood was cranky the next afternoon. No prizes for guessing why we refrained from taking an overseas holiday.

It was not all gloom, however. The boys plucked strawberries and got spiderman key chains. The kids also had a great time admiring the chickens, tho' I don't think the chickens had a great time being "admired". "Harassed" would be more apt to describe the chickens' experience.

We went to the tea plantation and enjoyed the fresh air and beautiful view from the platform. We also manage to locate the Chinese temple before we left the mountains. I would've liked to enjoy a walk at the Brinchang night market but hauling the small kids into a drizzling night was not any parent's idea of fun.

Hubby enjoyed his scones and fried rice at T'cafe. The buffet at the hotel had a big enough spread to cater for the varied taste buds in my family. The sweet and juicy corns were a treat. The strawberries were a bit sour but delicious if added into ice cream. Yum!

Most enjoyable for me was the drive to Tanah Rata in the early evening with the boys sleeping in the back. Despite Yan's weight as she slept in my arms, I enjoyed the "privacy" I had with hubby as we chatted. I think he enjoyed the drive too even though the road was winding.

I don't think hubby would be keen to choose Cameron in near future. Too cold for his comfort. "Not that bad-lah. It was only because of the rain," I said, trying to change his mind because I hoped next time we'd stay at the bungalow with the beautiful view. Why? 'Cos I'm sure my kids will enjoy their stay there as much as I had enjoyed mine years ago.