原来幸福也可以很简单

有时候会问自己到底我怎样的生活算不算是幸福呢？特别是当我独自一人照顾小孩而丈夫忙着做工直到深夜才回家。心里总是想着为何这么不公平，我也要上班的啊，为何总是我要赶着回家照顾小孩和打点一切大小事务呢？？心想如果有个佣人那有多好啊！但是，家里多了一位陌生人，我会很不自在。也不想因为有了佣人孩子变得娇生惯养。如果小孩的衣食住行都是佣人一手包办，那么我可不是错过孩子的成长过程？？看来家务和照顾小孩的事还是亲力亲为来的好！

有时候看到男士送花送礼物给女士，我都会在想如果我老公也懂得送花送礼物的话，那是有多么的浪漫，那我就会是世界上最幸福的女人。但是，结婚以来那么多年，老公从来没有买过一朵花或任何礼物给我，这比起拍拖时还要糟糕。拍拖时，老公还会买花买礼物哄我开心，难道婚后就不需要这些甜蜜的举动吗？？回想过去，老公根本不是一位浪漫的男人，也就是因为他不够浪漫，是一位很老实的男人，也不会甜言蜜语不会拈花惹草的个性深深吸引了我。就好像，妈妈形容他为快要绝种的恐龙一样！所以，如果要把送不送花或礼物来衡量幸不幸福，那是有多么肤浅的想法啊！

后来又想，有钱是不是就是幸福啊？？能住在大洋房，驾大汽车，想买什么就买，想出国旅行就出，那算不算幸福呢？？有钱真的很好，有钱万事通！深入一层的思考，钱其实是一个很可怕的东西！它能让一个人丧心病狂，它能让一个人贪得无厌，它能让一个人变得无情无义，慢慢地把你变成魔鬼！看来财富和幸福根本扯不上瓜葛

那幸福到底是什么？？幸福是一种什么样的感觉？？它的味道是怎样的？？

直到那天晚上，像平时一样，我下了班，赶着载孩子回家后便开始在厨房下厨。下厨时，不轻易地听见老公和女儿的对话。俩父女竟然在那儿打情骂俏！那一刻，感觉很幸福！！原来幸福是这样的。对我来说，幸福就是当一件很不耀眼，很简单的举动都能让你在心里甜蜜蜜地偷笑，嘴角很自然地往上扬，那就叫做“幸福”！

而幸福的感觉和味道就好像当外面下着倾盆大雨时，你和你心爱的人在一间温暖的家中享用着热乎乎，香喷喷的私房菜，让你觉得很安全，很温暖，很舒服。。原来，幸福也可以很简单！

Chinese New Year 2013

Just like previous year, we had a big feast on the Chinese New Year Eve. And again, we had three tables of these delicious foods. Thanks to our big chefs, my mother-in-law and eldest sister-in-law. You are the best!

After the reunion dinner, we chatted and laughed while having from tea to wine. (Oopss..this is not advisable to mix tea and wine together, a bad example). When it was past midnight, we played fire-crackers as a symbolic of a prosperity year ahead. This year, we had the "Kong Ming" lantern as an add-on. We wrote our wishes on the Kong Ming lantern and lit it to the sky.

We had our vegetarian breakfast at my mother-in-law's house the next morning before heading back to Pontian, Johor; my hometown. After six to eight hours of driving, finally we were home. We spent 4 days in Pontian. We spent most of our time chatting, laughing, eating and drinking for the past few days with my siblings and my parents. My youngest brother and my mum cooked delicious foods for us. We were so happy and I felt blessed to have them and being able to spend a few days with them happily.

We also had the opportunity to watch lion dance and dragon dance at one of the Karaoke Clubs in Pontian. There were 5 lions and 1 long dragon. The girls were overjoyed to watch it as this is their first time watching it at such a close distances.

My father bought us supper one night and I was amused by this food. It is called the nasi pulut apom balik. It is very very delicious. I personally found it very special and unique, and of course very delicious! I want to eat it again the next time I go back.

Time waits for no man. It was time to head back to Ipoh. Mum prepared some Chinese New Year cookies, Mandarin oranges and her homemade walnut cake for us to bring back. Mum also homemade the rice wine for my confinement after delivery. I really felt blessed to have such a lovely mum! I love you, mum!

Rich or Poor

I came across this article when I was teaching the students. And I would like to share this very meaningful article here in my blog. This is how the story goes.

One day the father of a very wealthy family took his son to the village to show him how the poor lived. They spent a couple of days and nights in one of the poorest houses in the area.

On their return to the city, the father asked the son, "How was the trip, son?"

"It was great, Father."

"Did you see how the poor lived?" said the father.

"Yes, I did, Father," said the son.

"So, tell me what you learned from the trip?" said the father.

"I realized that we have one dog but they have four dogs. We have a pool that reaches to the middle of the garden but they have a creek that has no end. We have imported lanterns in our garden but they have millions of stars at night. Our patio reaches to the front garden but they have the whole horizon. We have a small piece of land to live on but they have fields that go beyond our sight. We have servants that serve us but they serve others. We buy our food but they grow theirs. We have walls to protect us but they have friends to protect them."

The boy's father was speechless.

"Thanks for showing me how poor we are, Father," added the son.

~The End~

Chinese New Year Preparation 2013

We decided to decorate our house "red and gold" this Chinese New Year. Still keeping these two golden lanterns from last year as they are still in good condition, moreover they were quite pricey too :P

Other than the lanterns, we hung some lights decoration too. We had small little Chinese lanterns and some pinky flower lights. It looks like a very elegant Victoria style necklace when we switched the lights on. Nice!

This year, we wanted to do something 3D on the gate. I bought the couplet and the two very cute big snakes from pasar pagi, altogether costed RM18 which I think it's a great bargain for me..hehe..Feeling a bit dull, I made a few 3D stars to add some spice to it. At first, I was thinking to hang the stars but hubby suggested to tie them on the gate. We are satisfied with the result, it is beautiful :)

This year, we bought some plants too. We bought some imported red anthuriums and spider lilies. They are lovely, really bright up my day.

Then, I tied some red ribbon on the bamboo tree which we bought last year too. Somehow, I feel that the bamboo trees are malnutrition. It should be lush green, I guess that we need to work more on taking care of it.

Lastly, a picture of my two little princesses, making noisy asking me to take a photo of them. Here, wish all of you Happy Chinese New Year! Cheers!

The Year 2012

Year 2012 is definitely a year to remember. We went through so much ups and downs this year, good stuff...the little one that we have been so looking forward to...bad stuff...learned lesson and of course, being a much wiser person now. But most of all, we have SURVIVED! v(^_^)V

December is always a busy yet a happy month for us. It is always the month of some important functions and events to attend, the month of spring cleaning, the month as a full-time mother as the kids are having their long holidays, and not forgetting it is also the month to sum up company account. Pheewww...so much things to be done...yet, enjoying every moment of it though sometimes felt exhausted!

As I'm now in the second trimester, we have been cutting down on outdoor activity. This month I focus more on NingNing's pronunciation, letting the girls helping me with some household chores and their social behaviour in public. As we are celebrating Winter Solstice and Christmas this month, I decided to let the girls  have some fun. I made the dough from the glutinous rice flour, adding colouring (red, pink and green) to separated dough then, letting the girls to finish the job. The girls got creative, SyuenSyuen made the "tang yuan" with Christmas term. She made a Snowman instead of traditional round tang yuan while NingNing made 'snake'!! (O.o) They even mixed the colour and knead it round and now, we had RAINBOW tang yuan! So much fun with the girls, it was a MESS but we are happy! Ooppss...so enjoyed that I have forgotten the existing of the camera! (=.=)" Anyway, this is the only photo of the tang yuan making.

Last year, we decorated a Candy Christmas Tree. This year, we decorated the Christmas tree with handmade gifts and snowman. They were all made from unwanted material, another recycle project :) Hopefully, we have more and more blessed years to come!

Speech Therapy

Since NingNing had been facing problems with the pronunciation with certain words, we decided to take her to the specialist to have a proper check-up. First, we went to the Emergency Department as we are not too sure who should we refer to, to the ENT Department or the Paediatrics. Then, NingNing was transferred to the Paediatrics to do some speech evaluation.

We are glad that there were nothing wrong with her hearing and tongue. After checking the ear and tongue, she was asked to read alphabet A to Z, sounds okay. And then, she was asked to sing! Then, the paediatrician asked me some history about her. I explained that she started to talk (single, double wording) when she was about 10 months old and complete sentence when she was about 1 and 1/2 year old so, there was no sign of her to be a slow learner or speech disorder.

Then, there was a little conversation between the paediatrician and her to test her understanding of certain question. A simple test on her speech in different language turned up to be fine. In the end, she was diagnosed of slurred speech with certain words.

I heard of the slurred speech years ago and understood the meaning of it. It was nothing serious but what we are afraid of is that she might get so used to the slurred speech that it become her habit one day. I requested the paediatrician to write us a letter so that we can went straight to the speech therapy, which was only available at the General Hospital Ipoh. The paediatrician refused as he thinks that all NingNing needs now is practising the certain pronunciation at home. After much discussion with the paediatrician, we came to a conclusion that we will teach NingNing to practise her speech at home everyday and if there is no improvement after 6 months then only we bring her to the speech therapy.

Back at home, I called my mum and hubby to discuss this matter with them and like what I'm thinking, they also think that 6 months is way too long. In the end, we decided to give ourselves 3 months of deadline. If there is no improvement, we will personally bring NingNing to the GH with or without the letter from the paediatrician.

As for now, I'm doing some research on the speech therapy, hopefully I can find some helpful information. And of course, hope for the best.

盲点

身为父母的我们都期望孩子以后能过舒适的生活；住洋房，驾名贵车，最好能够成为专业人士，赚很多的钱。看来，在现今的社会下财富，名利及职业视乎断定了一个人成功以否。在孩子上小学时，成绩便成为了老师及家长最关注的事件也断定了成绩较差的孩子将来不会成功而成绩较杰出的孩子将来一定很成功！

我本身是位老师也是一位妈妈，我教过许多孩子也了解父母的苦心，但是我本人不认为成绩能衡量孩子的前途。对我来说，前途是无法衡量的，如果能衡量的话，有谁能够告诉我是用什么计算法，可不要告诉我是用加和减，那是很肤浅的想法啊！

我深信父母们都有同样的盲点，
（一）害怕孩子输在起跑点。
（二）只要读好书，获得辉煌的成绩便有美好的未来。
（三）安排孩子上零零种种的才艺班但又怕累坏孩子。

记得有一次，大女儿四岁那年老师向我投诉女儿ABC还不会认而那些同样和女儿一起三岁入学的已经会了。那时我是这样回答老师的，“今天她不会，明天她就会了”，过后，我便和老师谈一谈我们对孩子的期望及把孩子提早入学的原因。其实，我们并不怕孩子输在起跑点，让女儿提早入学的原因纯粹是为了让她学习一些人际关系，让她跟小朋友互动，学习沟通及礼貌。我们也向老师说明我们比较注重品行，成绩不太重要，重要的是别让我们害怕孩子输在起跑点的举动而催产了孩子那好学之心！虽然输在起跑点，但人生还有多么遥远的路要跑啊！女儿，我们希望你不管输赢，用“坚持”跑完全场！

身为老师的我，学生的成绩固然肯定了我的成就以实力。虽然如此，我并没有因为成绩而施压学生们，反而我注重他们的身心。我深信拥有良好的身心及品行，学生的成绩也逐渐进步！最让我记忆深刻的是一位三年级的学生，一向来名列前茅的他在一次的国文考试只得了48分，忍住泪，向我道歉并承诺下次会考取好成绩。我便回应说“没关系，我们一起努力，我希望你下次能进步10分。。”说到这里，他还是忍不住落泪了。。此事，让我体会到考试不只是评估孩子的知识也同时评估了孩子对人处事的能力。这就是父母们的盲点，很多家长都忽略了考试过程的重要性，考试只不过评估孩子的知识，但是孩子从准备应付考试直到获得成绩的过程面对了零零种种的情形及情感（包括正面以负面的情商），这才是家长应该关注的。在此，借这个机会，想感谢所有的学生们，谢谢你们和我一起努力！

提到女儿的成绩，虽然不错，但是就是碰到一些“闹事鬼”说到，“你是老师喔，你女儿怎么只考到第三名啊？”有点吓到的我，只好笑笑而已。原来有些人认为老师的孩子一定要名列前茅，真的是个蛮有趣（怪）的想法。虽然，我一向来不认同填鸭式的教育，我还是把女儿送到学校就读，原因只有一个；让她学习人际关系。在家，除了复习学校课业，我们都会进行许多活动，做一些手工，学一些孩子们喜爱的课题，进行户外活动等等。我热爱家庭教育(homeschooling)但是在怡保几乎是没有人懂得这门特好的教育。幸好身边还有一位看事情比较通透的丈夫，很支持我的理念，他也是我们的得力助手噢，是我们户外的德士司机爸爸！

许多父母都会送孩子到各种各样的才艺班，这很好啊！但是盲点是在于到底孩子上的才艺班是否适合他们，是否真正能发挥他们的潜能呢？？把孩子的时间表填得满满的，看到孩子累坏了，家长开始心疼了便把一些“比较不重要”的才艺班删除。大部分家长都会把绘画班，乐器班，音乐班，美术班删除；被保留的都是心算班，英文会话班，智商班等等。其实，我们应该事先了解孩子的潜能，然后选择理想的教育者，再慢慢地栽培孩子。这样的话孩子不会累坏而能发挥孩子的潜能，这不是两全其美吗！此外，有了多余的时间在家，孩子和父母也多了一些互动便促进了亲子关系。可惜的是，往往家长都排斥艺术这方面的教育便埋没了孩子真正的才华。也许，父母们应该不断地提升自己在于教育孩子这方面吧！我本人也不断地学习教育这门复杂的学问，也不断地挑战自己的极限，也不断地在trial and error中吸取经验。