An Extra Special Day

On Tuesday, the kids were very excited, particularly XY. She was waiting anxiously for PaPa to come back (from work) with the cake. Kids love to blow candles, cut cakes and eat them. That's why PaPa bought a whole cake. When they were younger, we bought just a few slices of Secret Recipe cakes for our (the adults) birthday because we can't finish a whole cake. Now a small cake would be gone by the next day. The kids can't wait to blow the candle but PaPa was still taking pictures and fixing the tripod. hehehe

~ yummy tiramisu cake ~

~ waiting to sing the birthday song ~

We had dinner at home. PaPa has already treated us to a buffet lunch at Sun & Surf Café, Sunway Resort Hotel & Spa on Sunday. As a Citibank credit card holder, you get 40% discount (offer valid till 1st Nov). The buffet spread is just normal. I chose this restaurant because it stated "kids' mini buffet and chocolate fountain" in the website. The kids had never "experienced" a chocolate fountain. But it turned out to be a big disappointment (to me, that is. The kids didn't know about it, so no expectation). It was just a big pot of chocolate, for dipping marshmallows and fruits. What the kids enjoyed most are the pumpkin soup, marshmallows (even without chocolate dipping) and ice-cream.

Although it wasn't much of a celebration, this year was extra special. I was really blessed coz I received lots of wishes via SMS, phone call, instant messaging, e-mail and Facebook on the actual day. XY wished me many times and she tried really hard to be a good girl (started days before) coz that was the present I wanted. :-) Didi wished me when asked to and he's very good at singing the birthday song. CH (my nephew) sang to me the birthday song (without a cake) when I was at his house for lunch. It was a truly special day. No surprises from hubby this year but he got me a lovely card and a facial treatment package. What more can a girl ask for? *happy smile*

Extracurricular Activities

Yay! XY has finished her exam already. Thank you all for your good luck wishes. I think she'll get very good results this round. Wah... this mommy so confident ah? You know why? Coz she told me when she passed up her papers, her teachers pointed out her mistakes and she changed the answers. I think one teacher even told her the answer. :-| I guess exam at kindy level is just a formality. Not with the intention to measure the children academically, which is fine with me. I think the important thing is to find out if they understand what's being taught in class.

She has quit her ballet lessons already. She told me last month that she doesn't want to learn ballet anymore. Her reason -- it's not fun anymore. I spoke to her teacher and she said XY's doing fine in class. She can follow the instructions and lessons. But maybe because she's now in Primary level, the exercises are tougher and the class is more serious. Not like in Pre-primary where they have story-telling and pretend-play.

As we have a month's deposit with the centre, I let her continue this month (October), with the hope that she'll change her mind. But she's just looking forward to finish the 4 classes. So we decided to let her skip the last 2 classes. Don't see a point in sending her there just because we've paid for it. It's a pity she's stopping now (and a waste of money too) but it's pointless to force her if she's lost interest in it. Anyway, she can continue later if she develops the interest again.

She'll be attending a trial class for I-Clay (something like play dough) this afternoon. If she wants to continue (I think she'll love this), we'll enrol her in this class. And I'm also thinking of sending her for swimming lessons. At least some activities to look forward to during the coming long school break.

Emcee For The Night

XY has been selected to be the emcee for her kindy's Annual Concert cum Graduation Night (in mid November). When her school principal told me a few weeks ago, I was a bit worried but felt proud at the same time. Well, as a parent, whenever your child is selected (to do anything), you'd definitely be very proud of him/her, no matter how easy or difficult the task is. After some thoughts, I wasn't so worried anymore as she's had two years of experience speaking on stage (to introduce her dance). Moreover, as an emcee, she doesn't have to memorise the speech. She can read from the paper. So I think it shouldn't be a problem for her. *keeping fingers crossed*

She'll be having her exam the whole of next week. This lazy bum of mine has been complaining every time I ask her to do revision. Can't blame her though as doing revision is definitely no fun compared to playing games and watching tv. hehehe Sorry girl, you can play all you want after the exam. But for now, DO AS I SAY!!! So during her exam period, her mommy will also be very busy. If you don't see me at your blog, you know the reason. :-)

Special Walmart Store Brand Formula On Sale

As parents, we want the best for our child. When we are looking for infant formula as an alternative to breast milk, we tend to choose name-brand formulas over store-brand ones. Although store brand formulas comply with the FDA standards, some consumers would prefer name-brand formulas.

One of the reasons being companies that produce name-brand formulas are specialised in producing baby food or formula. To be competitive in the market, they have the research and development team to produce the best formula milk. As for store-brand formulas, they may lack the R&D and they are not specialised in these baby foods. Therefore, some parents are not so confident with store-brand formulas.

As of October 1, 2009, a new Women, Infants and Children initiative aimed at increasing breastfeeding rates among families reallocates funding for all currently provided foods, including infant formula, baby foods, juices, and fresh fruits and vegetables. With a reduction of infant-formula subsidies, parents who previously had most of their formula paid for by WIC, may now have to purchase formula on their own.

If you are worried the new WIC program will affect you financially, Walmart is having a promotion on their store brand Parent’s Choice Infant Formula. For a limited time, parents can buy two cans for just $10!
* Parent’s Choice Milk Infant Formula is on sale in a 15.5 oz (440 gram) can for $5.00 each.
* Parent’s Choice Gentle Infant Formula for babies with fussiness or gas is on sale in a special 12.9 oz (366 gram) can for $5.00 each.
These special cans are available exclusively at Walmart.

Movie & Karaoke

We brought the kids to watch G-Force on Sunday. The story line's quite good, very entertaining (in my opinion). The feedback from XY? She said the movie's good, but she doesn't know what it's about. :-| As for didi, he's there just for the popcorn and snacks. *roll eyes* Luckily he didn't ask to leave when he finished all the snacks. Still got 20 minutes or so to go before the show ended. He started to walk around so I put him on my lap and hugged him.

After we came out of the cinema, we went straight to Green Box Karaoke. We were charged 2 headcount at RM26++ per person. Free for kids below 140cm in height. We had free flow of drinks (soft drinks, juices, coffee, etc) and snacks (6 types). I only chose 2 types for the kids as the others are spicy or looked uninteresting. :D They ate a lot of junk food that day. I think they've exceeded their quota for two whole weeks. But no choice, that's the only thing to keep them occupied. We also had our (late) lunch there. Ordered fried rice and cheese and ham sandwich. The rice was too oily for my liking but hubby said not bad.

~ junk food party -- see how he stuffed himself with
the snacks; the hand on the right belongs to jie jie ~

There was a games session for the customers at the main area but only 3 groups turned up. We didn't win the lucky draw (don't know what's the prize) but hubby won the drinking contest -- to gulp down the soda drink in the shortest time. The prize is a bottle of sparkling juice.

Honestly, it's not so enjoyable bringing the kids to karaoke because they're very noisy. When they're not singing or eating, they can't sit still. We should have expected that, right? Anyway, it's an experience for us. But no more next time.

Bedtime Necessity

Throughout their growing-up years, children go through different phases, different likes and dislikes. There's no definite length for these phases and it's different for every child. My boy is currently going through a 'must have air conditioner during bedtime' phase.

It started some time last month. I usually switch on the air conditioner (AC) when I put the kids to sleep. Both of them sleep with us in the same room. Once the boy has fallen asleep, I'll switch it off then sneak out of the room. I'm still waiting for the day when he can sleep on his own. Sometimes if he's not in deep sleep, he'll wake up immediately when he hears the 'beep' sound when I turn it off. Back then, I just need to reassure him that I'm still around and he'll fall asleep again without fuss. But recently, he can't sleep back if he sees that the AC is off. If I'm not in the room, he'd get up and cry. It's the really pitiful kind of cry, as though he's been cruelly tortured. All I have to do is to switch on the AC again, cover him with the blanket and ask him to sleep. Then I leave the room. He has no problem sleeping without me when he's blurry.

There was a few nights he woke up at 5+, asked me why the AC was turned off. I told him it's cold and ignored him. He didn't sleep back till about 2 hours later (of course, disturbing me every now and then). :-|

To avoid the drama, what I do now is to switch on the ioniser (on the AC unit) when he disturbs me in the middle of the night. He's fine with that, although it's not cold. I guess he just wants the buttons on the AC unit lighted up. I doubt he's afraid of the dark as I leave the bathroom light on when they sleep.

Now that he can't live without the AC, I've got a very good 'weapon' during bedtime. If he makes noise/talk, I point the remote control at the AC and he'd keep quiet. If he plays with jie jie or moves around, I just point the remote and he'd behave. Seriously, like magic! hahaha But of course, he'd forget the threat after awhile. So got to threaten him a few times before he finally fell asleep. Sigh... when will this phase be over? One thing for sure, the electricity bill will be higher during this period.