A Happy Friday

I have been looking forward to today because I could finally wear my new cheong-sam to school! All the kids at school were encouraged to be dressed in Chinese costumes today. I wore the blue one and kept the pink one for the first day of CNY.

Chinese New Year celebration at school

Among the activities planned for the day were assembly, singing, dancing, "cooking" and a mini reunion feast.

Singing some action songs

While I enjoyed playing and dancing with the lion-dance costume last year, I refused to touch it today. When mummy asked why, I said I was shy. Hmm....

Just watched from afar

I brought home a goodie bag (with mini tangerines, jellies, sweets and rice crackers), three CNY cards and a red packet filled with "gold coin" chocolates. I also made two lanterns earlier (hung and displayed in mummy's car)

Back home, after lunch, I pestered mummy to do this with me (been pestering her for weeks!)...

Mummy bought this during the Christmas clearance last month

Mummy pre-baked the cookies yesterday

Colourful candies! (for playing, not for eating)

Let the fun begin!

Here are my masterpieces, done with mummy's help, of course.

Nice to look at but too sweet and colourful for consumption

We didn't eat these at all but I did try one un-decorated one and found it yummy, surprisingly. It was very spice-y and cinnamon-y.

My First (two) Cheong-Sams

This is my first time wearing cheong-sam. Well, let the fashion show begin...

Xin nian kuai le, everyone!

Nice or not, my new dress? Very cheap, only RM16.88

Hahaha! Told you my mummy is a miser!

Mummy also spotted this blue one (exactly the same material as the pink one above) in Giant. At only RM9.88, it was silly not to grab it!

Not bad, right?

*Trying to look cute*

Little Ah Moi in action

Are we done yet? I don't want to pose anymore...

Boring...

Enough is enough...

That's it. I'm calling it quits.

That's all, folks!

Free Pets

Very often, the organic vegetables that mummy buys come with "free gifts" inside and these gifts come in the form of caterpillars and snails. They are usually put into ventilated boxes and given to me as "pets".

These free "pets" can stay alive in the refrigerator for a week or more but once they are out, they usually last only a day or two although they are given food, water and shelter.

Meet Turdy the snail (name given by me)

I love to play with it but dare not touch it hehe.

Hello, how are you? (talking to Turdy)

Turdy trying to escape through the tiny hole...

As expected, Turdy died two days later.

Previously we also had a few caterpillars. Among them was Salty (also named by me).

Big, fat Salty the caterpillar and an unnamed baby

Salty too died after a day and our hope to see it turn into a butterfly or something was dashed yet again :(

Ok, ok... I DID have a real pet some time back. It's here.

A RM0.90 Reward

Daddy and mummy have been very busy lately. In the last couple of days, they have been neglecting me and leaving me alone most of the time while they spring-cleaned and repainted some parts of the house. Despite being left alone with very minimal attention from them, I have been a very, very good girl. I played on my own, read on my own and did most of the things on my own without bothering them or disturbing them.

Mummy decided to give me a little reward for being on my best behaviour. On our way home from school today, we dropped by a mini market and mummy said I could have anything. Yes, just ANYTHING that my heart desired, including junkies such as sweets and chocolates.

My first choice was fruit juice. Mummy said no because we already had that at home. My second choice was banana. Mummy said no again because we had that at home too. My third choice was...

Spoilt for choice... hmmm.... what shall I have?

Out of the 1001 things in the shop, I chose to browse only at the bread stand and went on to pick a 60sen Gardenia chocolate cream bun, my all-time favourite (I've chosen this far too many times in the past when similar rewards were given). Although happy with my frugal selection, mummy felt that I deserved something better this time so she... she... "upgraded" it to a 90sen Squiggles for me hahaha!

Wish granted. I had fruit juice, banana and Squiggles for tea.

Sheer bliss... enjoying my afternoon tea on my rocking chair *happy*

A Pleasant Surprise

Late last month, while enjoying the remaining few days of my school holidays at home, we received a couriered parcel at our doorstep. It was a prize that I have won from a magazine's photo contest. What a pleasant surprise!

I was selected to appear in the Kids At Play section of the My Child magazine, a free magazine that I bring home from school every month.

Mummy submitted my photo in October 2010 and it was immediately published in the November/December 2010 issue!

This was what I won...

A Bio-life health supplements hamper worth RM100

The contents... A.B Pre & Pro (biotics) for kids, Organic Spirulina, Calcium Magnesium Plus, Fish Oil, Kidswave memo pad, handphone pouch and some brochures

Mummy thought she would have no chance of seeing my photo in a magazine because she missed the November issue (due to the school holidays) but today, I finally brought home the "belated" Nov/Dec issue. Before mummy could take a peek, I told her proudly "Got my photo in the magazine, you know" and quickly flipped the pages to show her *show off* haha!

That's me in the green film-frame... my maiden appearance in a magazine!

The actual photo submitted

Of Tic Tac Toes and Whales

Tic Tac Toe

Recently, I have learned to play tic-tac-toe. I can understand the concept of the game very well but sometimes I still lack observation and strategy skills to excel in it.

Homemade tic-tac toe... made with Pyssla beads (Don't you just LOVE these beads? hehe) It's environmentally-friendly too... can play it again and again and again without wasting any paper :p

Every night, before going to bed, I will suggest playing (at least) a round of the game first.

*Thinking hard* Hmmm... where shall I put next?

No win, no lose... heh heh heh!

Balancing Whales

Last weekend, daddy and mummy brought home a few bags of "junk" from Mah-Mah's house. While other people are busy spring-cleaning their homes and getting rid of stuff now, they actually brought back more stuff! These "junks" have been stored (left behind) in Mah-Mah's house since they moved out in 2004 (they stayed there for 4 years after marriage) to our current house. Well, among those "junks", they found a TREASURE!

Balancing Whales... 5 wooden blocks carved into the shapes of whales

It was one of the MANY souvenirs that daddy and mummy bought on their first honeymoon to New Zealand back in 2000 (The currency exchange was only NZ$1 to RM1.40 then).

Needless to say, this Balancing Whales instantly became my favourite toy. Day in, day out, I would stack and arrange them on my own while referring to the sample designs given. If daddy was around, he would play with me.

Mummy, see... I made this

Look, mummy... I made this

Yesterday, daddy told me he was busy with some work and asked me to play on my own first. I didn't quite like his idea so I suggested something better... "You one hand do work, one hand play with me lah!"

So one-hand-do-work and one-hand-play-with-me, he did! Hahaha!

Ni Hao, I am Learning Mandarin!

My first Mandarin class started today. Determined to send me to a Chinese-medium primary school in two years' time, daddy and mummy have enrolled me in a Mandarin Language Programme to develop my proficiency in the language. This is an alternative to changing me to a Chinese-based kindy.

As of today, I have almost zero knowledge of the language except for yi, er, san, si, wu (1, 2, 3, 4, 5), hao-chi (delicious) and bu-yao (don't want) haha.

The Mandarin Panda Programme

I met the mascot in my kindy's Sports Carnival in Sunway Lagoon last year.

Time-table and fees

While daddy has to fork out more money for my school fees this year, I have to attend very long classes from 8:30am-2:30pm (with a lunch break from 12:30-1:00pm) for three consecutive days every week and mummy has to crack her head to come up with healthy, balanced and nutritious "minimal-cooking" lunch-box lunch ideas for me.

Like today, Mummy had to wake up earlier than usual in the morning to pack me my very first lunch box. It was a very simple meal (that required no cooking except for the egg).

Egg, home-baked wholemeal bread with cheese, grapes, turnip strips and carrot sticks.

While walking to school with my lunch box in my hand, I asked mummy a very funny question... "Mummy, if you put all the food inside the box, will it grow fungus?" Mummy was rather surprised that I knew what fungus was.

After school, when asked what did I learn today, I replied "I don't know. I can't remember. But I loved it. It was fun". *mummy rolls eyes*