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Archive for the ‘Monchies’ Category

Take Her Words

Posted in Monchies, tagged on November 11, 2009| 2 Comments »

My Kitreena.Things were not  going so well with  Be’s health that the doctor wanted him to check himself in at the medical center Sunday night. And since food was the last thing (or maybe the second last thing) on his mind, Be left before dinner time. So me Monchies and me had a quiet dinner just the three of us. No, it wasn’t a quiet dinner. It was a silent dinner.

 

It was Kitreena who finally said, “Mom, I am glad you are home. It is really good to have you back. I really missed you. It’s not the same when you were not here. Thank you for coming home, Mom.”

 

She is a sweetheart when it comes to saying the right things, ya know. And I am not saying this because she is my sweetheart. I guarantee that I can get some back-up votes here if I pull a few strings. But this gal almost always knows what to say. And what she just said went straight to my heart as I saw tears in the corners of her eyes.

 

Peace of mind of mine.“I will always come home, Monch! Don’t you ever worry about it. I am your Mom.” And of course I had to take an advantage by rubbing it in with, “You should thank God you still have a Mom and I am here, you know. You’re lucky. I don’t have a Mom anymore.”

 

Kitreena suddenly sat up and gave me quite a stern look, “Don’t say that, Mom! You always have a Mom. She’s just not here because she has to be in heaven.”

 

A silent dinner went on to be a silent night. We left it at that, as I believed what I just heard were words sent from someone who had to be in heaven.

 

 

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Ride On Raya

Posted in Monchies, Pokrovsky Boulevard, tagged , on September 21, 2009| Leave a Comment »

My kerinting Kitreena.

I was not going to write about Raya anymore today, to be frank. I was pretty content to leave it for another year before I let it get to me again. But it is still in the air. My homesickness is still affecting my moonlady-ness. Or is it the other way around?

 

I still reward myself with one Batang Buruk each time after doing dishes. Thanks, Tuan Nor! And dinner tonight was the Raya leftovers. Not to mention that all sms updates from family and friends today revolved around who went Raya-ing where. Well, I guess I’ll indulge a tiny wee bit more.

 

Baju Raya-wise this year is a re-run for all of us, The Johnsons. Yes, I am stating the obvious, rather obviously. I am glad, nonetheless, that Kitreena still thinks of the world about her dress that she herself hand-picked at a place in Bangi last year. She did make a comment about the sleeves getting shorter when she had it on yesterday.

 

I should just let her wear this Baju Raya whenever she wants from now on, Raya or not Raya, before it shrinks on her. While the long sleeves may never be short sleeves, as  I hope she never grows hands longer than 50 inches, I can almost see the dress becoming the most beautiful Jackfruit Wrap within the next two years. Imagine a purple karong nangka, with beads, labucci and glitters summore!

 

Kitreena has grown and gone through quite a bit between mid-July and this Raya, you see. Since we got her a T-scooter when we came back from Malaysia, she has been a rider. A good one at it too, I must say. So good that it inspired me to get a T-scooter for myself! Yes, these days I send her to school riding it! I see no other mothers riding anything else but their big fancy cars. I guess that’s why Kitreena’s classmates thought I was a cool Mom! Woo hoo!

 

And within the last 2 weeks Kitreena has also been riding her bike without the training wheels. This girl is funny when it comes to milestones. She had been riding her bike (training wheels and all) since her 3rd birthday. Yeah, pre-Edrick era! Recently when we saw that she could balance on the T-scooter well, we nudged her into losing the training wheels. She got so scared and was so not willing to try that she totally abandoned her bike!

 

We then coaxed and cajoled her with a pair of roller-blades. Within just two hours of putting the fresh-from-the-shop pair of RBs, she was already gliding down Pokrovsky Boulevard leaving me green with envy! (I have mine too since 2003, but had been too scared to fall on my big 72kg butt back then. I admit that I am now so motivated by the jealousy towards Kitreena’s ease at picking up the speed and balance, I’ve signed up for ice-skating class! Yes, my butt is almost 15kg lighter now. And yes, I digressed!)

 

To cut another of Kitreena’s riding stories short… one late afternoon about two weeks ago, Daddy just lost patience with his daughter’s fear. He took the training wheels off of Kitreena’s bike, put her helmet on and just forced her to pedal it! As though she had been practising all these years in secret, Kitreena just rode off! Yeah again, gliding down Pokrovsky Boulevard leaving Daddy with his jaw dropped to the ground and Mommy with her eyes rounder than a rounder’s field!

 

We should not have been surprised, really! Kitreena had done the very same thing when she started to walk. As a baby, she was extremely cautious and got tremendously easily frustrated when she kept on falling. So cautious that she refused to even try to walk. It took her 2-3 months before she got tired of sitting and crawling. One day, she just picked herself up and started walking!

 

Keputat kakak kepada Melang!I hope she wouldn’t just pick our car keys tomorrow and start driving around Moscow looking for the Malaysian Embassador’s house. After all, she was very disappointed yesterday for not getting her Raya’s servings of Keputat! Did I tell you she wanted spaghetti with Sambal Tumis Udang for her school lunchbox today?

 

Aaahhh my Malaysianized Canadian monchie!

 

 

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Balleting

Posted in Monchies, tagged on September 3, 2009| 9 Comments »

Russian Ballerina

 

I am off taking Ekaterina Supianovski Johnsonovlova to her ballet class.

 

 

Postlude:
Kitreena’s first ballet session at the Anglo-American School went really well. It makes a whole world of difference this time around attending ballet class. For the first time she said she truly enjoyed it. She had a lot of fun, and I could see it right through.

 

She did start ballet when she was a lot younger. Three and a little wee bit, back at Kelab Darul Ehsan in Ampang. It was a brilliant idea, and at a brilliant location – just 2 minutes down from our Chong Khoon Lin place. And while waiting for her there, Be and I had our Saturday morning coffee at the club. Yeah, could not have been more perfect than that, you’d think and envy. Yeah, right!

 

Well, apart from the instant Indocafe coffee served at the club and breakfast available only at the golfers’ little cafe (cold roti canai, and no bacon and eggs?), Kitreena had a tough time understanding her ballet teacher’s instructions! I didn’t believe it at first until I sat in one of the classes and thought… “Oiii! Cannot lah like dat aaaa. How waaaa dis chooldren can run run and hop hop on-nee. Sum more aaaa, fourteen chooldren on-nee got one teacher meh? And fordy-fi minit I oso have to pay RM75. Kam kwai loh miss! Cannot loh like dat one.”

 

Not only there was an issue with the instructor and her instructions, but for a few weeks she was the only ‘odd’ kid around. The local girls either couldn’t and didn’t speak English, or they just didn’t know how to respond to Kitreena’s friendliness! They would not say hi back to her! I was amazed, to put it in a polite way. The fifth week, a new girl (ang-moh) joined the class. And they hit it off right away and they were okay. But the ang-moh girl disappeared two weeks after. I found out later that she could not understand the instructor either. Aiyah!

 

Kitreena came home on the verge of being depressed and it was just not worth it.  

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Franklin Speaking

Posted in Monchies, Sense, tagged on September 1, 2009| 15 Comments »

Learning it the Grade One way!I am now  getting  longer responses from Kitreena to my “What did you learn at school today?” question everyday when she comes home. Last school year in Kindy (at AAS) and Year 1 (at AISM), she almost always gave me the dismissive answer, “I can’t remember everything I learn at school, Mom!” or “I forgot.” I sighed, I rolled my eyes, I even got upset sometimes. But so far I have not missed asking. God bless my stubborn soul!

 

Yesterday though, Kitreena was kind enough to bring home the lesson she learned at school. From what I understand, Mrs. Franklin gave each of the children a turn to squeeze some toothpaste out of its tube. Yes, toothpaste. Then the kids had to put it back into the tube using a stick. Well, can you imagine kids squeezing toothpaste tube with permission? Oh, I got headache just thinking about the mess! Those little hands are not designed for squeezing big tubes of toothpaste – or any big tubes of anything, for whatever reason, for whatever matter. But hey, they need to learn some time. And I need to learn to hold my judgement.

 

Kitreena then went on to explain that Mrs. Franklin said, the squeezed-out toothpaste is like bad words. Once you have said bad words, you can’t swallow them back in. So, you have to think about what you are going to say before you squeeze them out. Bad words hurt people’s feelings. Just like toothpaste, if squeezed out too hard, too much and land not on a toothbrush, will get dirty and messy. You can’t squeeze it back into the tube.

 

I went speechless for a few seconds and went, “Wow! That’s a very good analogy, isn’t it, Monch? It’s very true. I like that analogy!” Kitreena agreed with me totally and said, “It’s okay to feel angry, Mom. But it’s not okay to say bad words to other people. You can’t put them back into your mouth.” That was when I took a very deep breath, thinking… hey, how come my Grade 1 teacher never let me squeeze any toothpaste out of its tube? How come I had to learn it the hard way that when bad words are exchanged in anger, people will remember those bad words – not the issues at hand, not the message meant to be sent across. To be angry is fine, we’re human. But to say bad words is not okay. Yes! Exactly my principle in life. Spot on!

 

I like this Mrs. Franklin already!

 

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Boo-Boo Boo-Hoo

Posted in Monchies, tagged on August 30, 2009| 4 Comments »

My little big girl with a big little boo-boo.  Luka di lutut nampak berdarah... Lukanya sampai ke hati Mommy. Pediiiihhhnyaaaaa...

 

 
Daddy,

This is my ouwey from yesterday.

I wasn’t running too fast. I was just jogging.

I fell, even when I was wearing pants.

Mommy was shocked when she saw my ouwey.
 
It really hurt at first.
 
But after Mommy cleaned it with cotton and warm water,
and put pawpaw cream on it, it started feeling not too bad.
 
It was even ticklish when Mommy was cleaning it.
 
My pyjamas keeps rubbing on my knees and the ouwey feels itchy sometimes.
 
But I’m okay.
 
I cried just a little bit because I was scared to see drops of blood.
 
There was even a drop on the kitchen floor.
 
Mommy even took pictures of my ouwey so she can show you.

 

 

She tends to over-use the word even when she’s nervous. Well, no. Even when she’s not nervous, she even uses the word even too much. Is it even a phase? Ah well, even then… I could not hide my expression of shock when I saw the wound. My hands covered my mouth, my eyes were rounder than the earth and bigger than courts mammoth! All I could say was, “Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh Monch, oh my God, oh Monnnnchhh!”

 

I think I scared Kitreena, not the wound or the blood. 

 

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Because That’s Why

Posted in Hurt, Monchies, tagged on August 27, 2009| 1 Comment »

The Guardians 

 

Unrelated to the pictures above and below, this is the scene in the kids’ bedroom after a phone conversation that went totally wrong.

 

Edrick:
“I can get a Kleenex for you, Mom.”

 

Me:
“Oh okay. Thank you sweetie.”

 

It was then that Kitreena entered the scene. She sat beside me looking at me like a little mother that she is. With profound concern and intense gentleness, caressing my back. Just the way I picture it with her in another 10 or so years when she would first have her heart broken into little pieces. She was trying desperately to comprehend the situation.

 

Tears for years?Kitreena:
“Why are you crying, Mom?”

 

Edrick:
“She’s crying because I gave her the Kleenex, Kakaaa.”

 

Me, already chortling quietly:
“Not because, lah Monch. That’s why.”

 

I am not mothering angels here. I am mothered by two of them who are taking English grammar lessons in return. And today we learned about cause and effect.

 

Just because I had tears in my eyes.

 

Mothering angels...

 

Just because.

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Romancing Roma

Posted in Monchies, Travel, Write On, tagged , on August 27, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Rome peppered with a pinch of salt.

I’ve got Rome on my table.

When we came back to Moscow mid July, this card was waiting for us in the mailbox – a thought mailed from Rome, by KaCher. The card did not leave the dining table until a month after we arrived. It was getting a bit too much for Edrick to bear… being reminded of Aunty Mas, 7-10-20, and all the good times in Malaysia, every time at meal time.

This morning, walking back from taking Kaka to school, Edrick and I took the ‘Mailbox Route’ home to pick up the mail. I wasn’t expecting any – except for a card from Kitreena’s ex-classmate from Australian International School Malaysia. A card for Kitreena, of course. Why would her ex-classmate be writing to me?

The mailbox was empty. And that, oh-tedah-ly sent Edrick home in tears! I did not expect that he was expecting a mail going to be that disappointed. Seeing his frustration sent me home with a promise to mail us something at least once a week. Something. Even if it is a paid phone bill from last year.

Empty is not always a good thing. Kan?

 

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Fun, Fire and Uh… Fluid?

Posted in Monchies, Nostalgia, Pokrovsky Boulevard, tagged , on August 25, 2009| 4 Comments »

Brrrrr! And it's burning... Through the fire...

 

It was a cold, wet and cold afternoon. Did I just say cold twice? But summer rain in Moscow is sure funny. It doesn’t last longer than 5 minutes per fall. No kidding. It’s like the rain isn’t really serious about falling. That’s what it has been doing to us up on Bukit Prokrovsky anyway the last few days. Today, the rain was playing tag with us at least 7 times throughout the day and it was sure a struggle to keep warm.

 

I am not new to this sort of climate, I humbly admit. I graduated from Calgary where I earned my understanding degree to respect this almost extreme weather, extreme by a Malaysian standard that is. This is nothing to get over-excited about. But I have been excited about the fireplace! We have a real fireplace in our Mumber 9 Houth this time! Not a fake fireplace with its gas-burner and made-from-cement-firewood like what we had at Arbour Lake.

 

So when the wet and cold weather came today, I needed no excuse to play with fire. I had fun getting the fire started. I mean it! It was fun. And Edrick was on stand-by with his kipas-satay ready to fan and to keep the fire going. Boy did we ever have fun! Just as much fun as Kitreena did, playing outside… in the rain. And like always, every little thing done with the kids would send me back to my own childhood.

 

I am not superstitious. Even if I am, I am much less superstitious than my Mom. She used to scold us when we played with fire… burning dry leaves or dry grass that we raked off of our lawn, or branches pruned from our yard. She believed we would wet our bed that very night. She would scold us when we played out in the rain as well. With a similar worry, that we would wet our bed at night… that night! “Lu main api (or ujan) nanti lu shi-shi habesss basah gua punya tilam ini malam! Sudahhh!”

 

My Mom didn’t really speak like that. Nor did we wet the bed those nights either. Not the very same night, at least. But on the wet and cold day that today was, I caught myself just in time before I blurted to Edrick, “Lu main api nanti lu shi-shi habesss basah gua punya tilam ini malam! Sudahhh!”

 

 

 

Loose :)Translation:
“Lu main api nanti lu shi-shi habesss basah gua punya tilam ini malam! Sudahhh!”
=You’re going to wet the bed tonight playing with fire like that! Enough!

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Fairy Enough

Posted in Monchies, tagged on August 25, 2009| 4 Comments »

Oh warna-warna, bagai bicara. Ku terpesona, kau teristimewa.

 

I love rainy afternoons when my little fairies get stuck under my fairy roof, too worried to spread their wings outside and get ’em all wet. One fairy would spread music, and the other would spread colors instead. This is the front page of a card Kitreena the T-Scooter Fairy made for her Thinker Bell Aunty, the fairiest of all… Aunty Mas.

 

Very merry fairy ladies.

 

I actually did ask her what was with the moon’s and the sun’s thumping heart. I honestly wasn’t prepared for the artistic review she was going to give me.

 

“Those are not hearts, Mom. They are hands waving. When the sun comes in in the morning, he waves ‘Hello’ to the world. And the moon will have to wave ‘Goodbye’ for a while. Just like we waved goodbye to Aunty Mas, Mom. Just for a while.”

 

I felt for the moon.

 

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Thinker Bell

Posted in Monchies, tagged , on August 23, 2009| 5 Comments »

The Three Sisters

Kitreena’s Artwork

She was asking me how to draw fairies? There was no way on earth I could imagine on how to draw a fairy. Let alone drawing one. And Kitreena was specifically asking me to draw Tinkerbell. I gave Kitreena the DVD cover of the Tinkerbell the movie. Good thinking bell, Enida!

So this is Kitreena’s version of the three fairies – my two sisters (KaCher & Aunty Reen) and I. I have a feeling the one in blue is me. I’ll leave it to KaCher and Aunty Reen to fight for the other two. Be nice now girls! But what got my attention most about my Monchie’s artwork other than the curve is… uh, the cleavage. *giggle giggle*

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