Lying

I stumbled upon a set of parenting advises while surfing the internet one night. This slide caught my attention - because Eunice did tell lie for a short period of time (throwing away her lunch but told me she finished them). I often wonder then, how did she learn to lie? Was it because of me? It took me a while to tell her not to tell lie, and also to remind myself not to overreact to a small matter, but instead, I tried to spend time talking to her to understand why or the reasons behind.

That's why this slide caught my attention and I reflected a little. And after I read this, an incident happened the next day. This time, I remembered and applied what I read.
(Re-post from my facebook post)

A cooled iron, which was in standing position, now on a sitting position and the water spilled on the storage box.

EG: WHO DID THIS? WHO TOUCHED THE IRON?
Two girls dashed over.
Nat: (Instantly) Not me!!!
I looked at Eunice.
Eunice: (Blank face) What happened?
EG: Who went and put the iron down? All the water spilled.
Eunice: Not me.
EG: It has to be one of you!
I asked again: Who touched the iron?
Nat: Not me!!
I asked Eunice: Is it you?
Eunice: (Blank face) No...
I squatted down to Nat's level and looked into her big round eyes, and asked softly: Mei, is it you?
Nat: No!
Me: Mei, please don't lie. Is it you?
Nat: No....
Me: It is you, right? Don't lie, Mei.
Nat: (Softer now) No.....
Me: Daddy is not angry. He just wants to know who did it. There's a camera in his room. If he finds out you're lying he'll get really angry.
Nat: (Immediately hugged me really tight and eyes got teary)
Me: Is it you?
Nat: (Sobbed and nodded)
Me: Why? You wanted to iron clothes is it?
Nat: (Continued sobbing and nodding)
Then I passed to daddy for some cuddle time....

This morning, I asked her: Why did you lie yesterday?
Nat: I don't want daddy to get really angry....
Me: He's not angry. He just wanted to know who did it. Can you lie next time?
Nat: No.
Me: Good.

EG and I actually still laughed whenever we talked about it. I can't forget how the little girl hugging me tightly, biting her lips, and still trying to say "Not me" with a guilt face and teary eyes - probably her heart and mind were battling. I told EG that I could have scolded Nat badly because I was sure it was her. But I remember what I read. Until today, she remembers it too and still will tell me, we cannot lie. 

Retrospectively, I also try to imagine if we would have let this go, how will this impact on a 3yo? She might find out that by telling lies, she's "safe" from being punished. And how would her young and innocent mind process this incident if we didn't have time to talk it through?

Anyway, I thank God that it ended well. It's a very good parenting experience for both me and EG too.

Junior Monopoly

We bought a set of Junior monopoly from a car boot sale at a super cheap price last year, and during the recent holiday, we finally got the chance to take it out and play with the girls.

It is a much simpler monopoly - not much strategy needed. I think it's mostly depending on luck!

But our girls took it very seriously in every game. Eunice cried a few times when she's running low on cash, and Natalie will be whining non stop if she has to keep paying. That actually makes the game less fun! I talked to them, especially Eunice, about being resilient. They got better after a few lectures, that's because I always go bankrupt first. And today, while I was making my CNY cookies in the kitchen, I heard EG laughing really loud and then someone crying.

So, what happened was - Natalie was winning the game (somehow she always wins) and had a big stack of cash. She kept saying,"I have heaps of money!"... But Eunice was losing - she didn't have any ticket booth to collect rent from so she kept paying rent. And her eyes started to get teary. EG told me Natalie went to see Eunice's eyes closely and said I think she's going to cry! And that makes our not-so-resilient girl cried out loud. What happened next was, Natalie quickly offered her a stash of money, telling her it's ok, I can give you some money!

Nat gave some cash to Eunice, hoping to make the sister feel better

And EG started laughing really loud. I also heard Natalie said,"It's ok. I don't cry because I win." And EG laughed even louder telling her, it's easy for you to say that because you win!

Anyway, EG told the girls that they both won the game tonight because they're in the same team. And that solved all the teary moments.

Bye Bye 2015

I asked EG today if we should bring the girls to go see fireworks, but we both agreed that they won't last till 10.30pm! And EG said, "I thought you always post their sleeping photos during new year eve?"

Actually, very true.

Same as other years, as usual, we made the girls go in bed by 9pm. This year, I told Eunice, today is the last day of 2015, and tomorrow it'll be 1st day of 2016. She stared at me with her big eyes, and said, "Oh yea I am going to go Year 1 and I am turning 6 years old soon!"

So different from what she said last year.

Eunice is turning 6yo in another 2.5 months, and Natalie is 3y4m now. I now truly understand the quote - Having a sister is like having a best friend you can’t get rid of. You know whatever you do, they’ll still be there. There are many times when the girls will laugh their heads off together, playing crazily together, or even quarrel or fight but later laugh together again. We have successfully made Natalie sleep in her own bed for almost 2 months now - and there are many mornings when I woke up by their laughters from their room. It's probably the best noise on earth to wake up to! Everytime when I hear that, I just couldn't help by feeling thankful for their sisterhood.

Our girls have adjusted so well here now. They both speak exactly like an Aussie, and at times Eunice will correct our pronunciation. We're also learning the Aussie way to talk from Eunice everyday. For Nat, she doesn't have "lah" or "meh" or etc in her speech AT ALL. She speaks perfect english - for a 3yo - in my opinion :P.. Besides speech, they also pick up all the Aussie ways of living (for kids) - they love outdoor, love picnic, love gardening, love flowers & plants, love birds, love dogs or cats, love the sun, love beaches, love markets (but hate shopping -__-) and etc.

2015 has been a great year for both of them. Eunice enjoyed herself LOTS in her prep/foundation year in her school - making many new friends, learning to read/write, developed her interest in art, etc, and Natalie also enjoyed herself in Eunice's school and her new childcare - building new friendship, and learning life skills - like gargling = singing with your mouth closed (that's really cute!).

Finally, happy new year to all of you from my two lovely girls. Here are some recent photos of them. Hoping 2016 will be a great year filled with joy and peace for all of you!

Aug 2015

Pic taken to remember Nat's baby bed before upgrading to single bed

Trip to city to see the tallest Lego Christmas tree in Southern Hemisphere

Trip to Mills Beach @ Mornington - buidling sandcastle

Eunice's Reading Award

Eunice didn't know how to read when she first started school early this year. The ignorant mum (ME!) didn't know that the school will assess the children in the first week. I only found out this after talking to some parents (asians, of course) that they will prepare the children for the "assessment". But it's good in a way as that means, Eunice was at her most honest ability during the assessment - which is also the expectation of the school.

Many said that the schools here are very relax. I too had the same impression. Eunice's recess is 30 minutes, and lunch break is 1 hour (15 mins of eating, and 45 minutes of play). It's quite a long playtime. But starting from 2nd term, we started to have reading homework. Eunice brings back different book every night as a reading homework. Teacher requested parents to spend 15-20 minutes each night to read with the child. There are some tactics to teach the child to read.

Those books that Eunice first brought back were really simple. In the beginning, Eunice would read it after hearing me reading it once, and then reading it from memory, or guessing the words by the pictures. I went into school as parents helper 3 times in last term, and noticed that they spent a lot of time learning to read and writing words every morning.

I took it easily. I have to say I am not as hardworking as my mum in teaching us when we were young. But surprisingly, Eunice is progressing pretty well. Her reading level has gone up, and she started to bring back books with longer sentences and more words. She can read most of the words on her own now. Starting end of term 2, she has another reading home work - to read and identify the frequently used words. So she'll come home with a ziplock bags of 8 different words every night. And the school also let the children to bring back a library book every week for reading. So it has been reading, reading, reading AND READING.

Last week, I saw this slip in Eunice's communication folder.

Receiving an award?!

I asked Eunice, what happened in the school? Did you sing? Did you dance? Did you do any coloring? Or did you win any prize? All she could tell me was,"I don't know! I didn't do anything.." And her teacher was away for the week, nobody knows what award it is.

I talked to a mummy friend, who has an older kid in school, she told me that the school will select a child in each month / each term for some hard work or effort that they did. Her daughter received an award in the beginning of the year for having very good manners. And it's supposed to be a surprise for the child so the child won't know that he/she is getting an award. That made me even more curious, so what did my daughter do? :P

Anyway, since this is the first award that she's getting in an assembly, I decided to take a few hours off from work to attend the assembly. And I am glad that I did!

So, she got a reading award - to recognize her hard work and effort in reading with fluency. Not bad! I am pretty proud of her (HAHA!). EG came to the assembly as well. When her name was called, she stood up and went up immediately, as if she's expecting it. While we were walking home, I asked if she's surprise? She told me,"Yes. I thought I heard my name and I thought it wasn't me, but actually it was ME!". And she said she's a little shy standing on the stage that's why she wasn't smiling. :D

Serious face on stage in assembly

Posing with her cert - didn't look happy as she's hungry :P

Her first reading award

She had an ice cream treat, and got to choose a packet of chips for herself in the shop on that day.

While writing this, I recalled she got another coloring prize from school, which I decided to put it in as memory as well.

In conjunction to the "walking safely to school" event, the school had a coloring contest. Eunice brought back a piece of paper saying she needed to color it on her own without help, and hand it into the office by end of the week. And the school will decide a winner for each class. When I first saw it, my kiasuness kicks in and my first thought was, "OK I am going to photocopy a few pieces so she can color a few of them, and I'll choose the best to submit." *SHY*.

I didn't do that. Just the night before, I sat beside her while she colored it. She colored it for an hour. I praised her for her good effort and I just passed it in to the office the next day when I sent her to school. And within 1.5 hours, we received a call saying she's won the prize in her class. :D.. Not bad! Haha!

Happy girl with her prize

Forgot if I kept this piece of paper... Aihhh....

Her art work on the "hall of fame" on the school corridor

Eunice is having her 100th day in school celebration on this Friday - how time flies. And the school newsletter told us that they have started the Year1 transition for the foundation students. How time flies! She's going to be in Year 1 next year!

Anyway, I am glad that Eunice is learning well in her school. I am glad that she loves school - she loves her friends and she loves her teacher - she said her teacher is the BEST teacher in the world, and been saying that every week since school has started. And most importantly, I am glad that she enjoys the process. :)

Eating Roti Canai

During our recent trip back to Taiping, we went for roti canai in a local kopitiam (not mamak) for breakfast. The kopitiam has my favorite wan ton mee.

We let the girls tried both the roti canai and wan ton mee, and I order a leng teh too. Eunice loves the roti canai the most. For Nat, she loves both of them. They don't really fancy the drink but were ok after getting used to the taste.

There's a funny conversation between me and Nat on the way home after the breakfast.

Me: Mei mei, do you like your breakfast today?

Nat: Yes. I like the drink, I like the pizza and I like the pasta.

And on the other day, we brought them to another shop selling nice cakes and egg tarts. Nat loves the egg tarts and ate 2 by herself. And told me, I love the "yellow pie".

LOL!

Anyway, few days before we came back, we brought the kids to the shop again and taught them to eat by using their hands. Oh it fascinated them a lot and they love it! :)

Took a video of them.

Cuteness. :)

Natalie's "Reading" @ 2y7m

Eunice has been bringing back some take-home books from school this week. It's her "homework" to learn how to read. Those are simple books with pictures, so most of the time the child will be looking at the picture to predict the words. It's pretty easy for Eunice, even Nat can "read" them. But I tried to get Eunice to recognize the words.

Every night when I try to teach Eunice, Nat will be around and said she wants to read too. So I let her after Eunice finishes reading. I took 2 videos of her reading and couldn't resist to post it up. She's such a drama queen and such a cutie busy body!

No, she can't read. She's just reading from memory or by looking at the pictures in the book. :)

Swimming

In December long holiday, one of the most fun things that we did was to visit swimming pools. We went to 3 different aquatic centers / swimming pools just to check out their differences, also because we have the discount vouchers. The girls were very very happy and they really played crazy, and both slept really well after the swimming. :)

When we went for the first visit at Monash Aquatic Center, we did not know what to expect, and EG said he won't go into the water. So he was taking pictures for us. And you can see how clumsy I was trying to hold on to two girls. But he took beautiful pictures.

In the wave pool

The wave is pretty strong and I had to hold on my girls pretty tightly.

Some shots at the wave pools

Taking a break at the kid's pool

Enjoying the bubble pool

Some shots of me and my girls :)

After this, we went to Aqualink Boxhill and Healthways Aquatic Centers, and EG decided to join in the fun together hence we didn't take any photo. However, we still had great fun in both the visits. Everytime I said we're going swimming, the girls will be shouting in joy.

None of us knows how to swim. Both girls were pretty timid in the water. Eunice tried to avoid her face into the water or even scolded us for asking her to try to dip her face into the water. She complaint the water is smelly (chlorine). After that, I talked to a few parents and decided to send Eunice for swimming class as swimming is a very important skill in Australia. Also, it's a survival skill so no harm letting her doing it.

Eunice started late in the lesson as most children in Aus will start swimming lesson at as young as 1yo, but mostly at 3yo. We put her through a holiday intensive program (5 consecutive days of lessons during school holiday). In the first & second day, she was afraid and timid in the water. But after that, she built her confidence in her swimming teacher, and she got much better and loves swimming now. I was pretty amazed that even though the class is only 30 minutes, she actually did a lot of things in the class. Not a slack moment at all. So, it's really value for money!

After 5 days, we continued her in the weekly swimming program. She'll ask us everyday - am I going swimming today? She'll be very excited on the swimming lesson day.

Cutie girl. I bought a swimming cap for her to ease the washing.

Posing for the camera :)

She's pretty good now. She kicks and scoops with floats around her. And I can see the teacher trying to let her do it by herself and I believe that really boosts her sense of accomplishment. She loves swimming so much - which I am glad, very glad indeed.

I took some pictures of her when I went for her class (for the first time - very excited), and I didn't see there's a note saying that no camera / no picture. So ever since then I never take any pic of her anymore.

During the lesson

Getting ready to swim

Go my girl :)

Kicking kicking kicking

Swimming by herself with float

Swimming backwards with noodle

Floating on her back

Since she started late in her lessons, she's with the 3.5yo children in her lesson now. But the teacher has pushed her pretty hard that she's going up another level after 1 term. Pretty proud of her. :).

VIC Swim Level Progression Diagram.
Eunice is now in Pre School Beginner Gold and we'll find out which level she's going to in next term.

I love going for her swimming lesson with her to watch her swim. We'll enrol Nat when she's 3.5 yo, so that I don't need to be in the pool together with her. But even for now, Nat also knows how to swim. She'll tell Eunice to KICK! And they will both have lots of fun when we put on water in the bath tub at home and that's when they start "swimming" too. :)

2015: Eunice in School

It's been a month since I last blogged.


I do have many things to write about, but I was feeling jittery over the whole "Eunice-first-day-in-school" thingy for almost a month plus. Yes! I am serious - A MONTH. Everytime I thought about it, I felt like there's a lump in my throat.

In Victoria, a child can go into foundation (previously called prep - preparation - And I prefer this term over foundation) when he/she turns 5 years old before 30th April. Eunice is born in Feb, so she's "qualified" to go to prep this year.

While we were planning to move here, I already knew that Eunice will be going to prep in 2015, and I was pretty relief on that fact that I don't need to pay for the expensive childcare once she goes to primary school. But as the day comes nearer, I felt anxious. Going to prep is a big thing here. Everytime I tell others that Eunice is going to prep, they will show me a "O" mouth and said, REALLY? SO FAST! SHE'S NOW A BIG GIRL! Yea, 100% giving me that response. So it's a big thing!

Comparing in Malaysia, a child goes to primary school from 7am to 1pm (6 hours) when they're 7 years old, but here, my baby Eunice is not even 5yo yet (in another 2 weeks :P) when she starts to attend primary school from 9am to 3.30pm (6.5 hours). And she'll have her lunch in the school - packing lunch box is my another headache that I won't talk about.

I can't help but thinking to myself, will she be able to mix in? Will other children bully her (since she's more on the shy type)? Will she finish her lunch? During one session of 2-hr orientation last year, she told me she's hungry when I picked her up. She's supposed to have her lunch during the orientation (to let them have an idea on lunch break in school). So she went on and told me she went to toilet during the lunch break, and when she came back, everyone has finished their lunch and gone to the playground. So she went to the playground too. Imagine my horror! (101% protective mom!). Since then, we "trained" her to finish her meals at home before going toilet.

Another reason that I am anxious is because I have never attended a school here before. I do not know what to expect - when is recess time? what to pack for recess? sandwiches again? fruits? cheese? will it spoil? etc etc... (Typical worrier traits) I am glad that I met a Malaysian mum who's here for long time to answer me all my questions. Even buying uniforms stresses me out - so different from what we had in Malaysia.

And finally, I have to admit that I am not ready to let her go. I concluded that after stressing myself out for almost a month. I am just not ready to accept the fact that Eunice has grown to a big girl now.

So, the day has finally came. I couldn't sleep well the night before and I got up as early as 630am to start preparing for the BIG day. EG laughed at me asking if I am the one going to school. My baby? She's ALL EXCITED. She woke up, brushed her teeth, changed into her uniform that I took out the night before, wore her new socks, and came to the kitchen for her warm breakfast!

So we sent her off to school. I saw some mums wiping their eyes as they left the room, and another mom whom sent her son to the same kinder as Eunice standing outside of the classroom, anxiously making sure her son is settling well, just like me. I talked to her and she told me that she couldn't sleep well too. So, I am not alone! Even the principal jokingly said that there'll be a room for the mums to cry, or maybe considering serving some beer for the devastated mums!

Picking up children was another eye opener for me. I saw a mum ran and hugged the kid tightly when the kid came out from the school. Now all the articles about "sending kids to school the first time" in the internet make sense to me, and EG concluded that this is a MUM thing. For him, he thinks the school is the best place his daughter should be at, having great fun everyday.

Of course, it all went very well. Eunice came out with smiling face. I asked her if she had a good time, and she said YES. And she told me the games that they played, the little little incidents in her class, and most importantly, she finished her lunch!

So, the first day of school drama is now over. Next week onwards it'll be all rushing everyday to send her to school before I go to work, and thinking what to pack for her lunch box everyday (my most headache chore!).

My girl, Eunice, is now a preppie girl! She's a big girl now!

Getting ready to go school on the first day!

Love this picture...

Took another shot before going into the room

At the corridor

Her desk

Giving her a big tight hug before leaving.
A friend commented that it's as if she's getting married! :P

Occupying herself as we walked out of her classroom

Eunice and her good friend from kinder.
Anxious mum (ME!) peeking at the window to make sure her baby is settling well.