The New Maid

The new maid has been in our home for a month now, but she still has a lot more to learn...

So far she managed to trip my power supply twice, almost burnt my sterilizer and broke one of my microwavable tubleware.

Beside the language barrier, which she speaks little minimum conversation english, she is actually a very good worker. Now she made friends with my 2 daughters, especially Isabel, who likes her the most.

Isabel finds her amusing... she is amused at the fact that she can manipulate her and impresses her with her limited English. She tries to be the maid's English teacher, sometimes even Mandarin teacher, teaching her with whatever vocabs she knows. And she uses a tone like an adult. I'm observing her very closely, the moment she crosses the line and becomes rude or impolite, I have to step-in and correct her.

Once, while Isabel was doing her maths, Fitria, my maid, brought in a cup of milk for her to drink.
Isabel turned to her and said: "Kaka? Do you drink Milo while you are mopping the floor? No right? So, How can I drink the milk while I'm doing homework?"

Fitria: "eh?...."

I knuckled Isabel on her head : "Don't be rude, just say thank you and drink it up. After that then come back to finish your homework."

Isabel: "Yes... Daddy."

Fitria has still got a lot to learn about children, I can see the potential in her, with proper training, she can go a long way.

At Isabel's request, I have to put up is blog about her peeling prawn shell for the first time in her life.















At first she kept saying "I can't do it, I can't do it..."

But when we showed her how to do it properly, very quickly she got the hang of it. I took pictures of her doing it, she was so proud of herself and that she said: "Daddy, can put my picture on the computer where you always write about us?"


Kids need to be encouraged, nudged but not pushed.

But Isabel still has a bad habit of not eating her leafy vegetables.

She'll act as if the green leaves are poison and as if she's being tortured to eat it.

I tried cutting it to mince but still she complains that the leaf is tickling her throat and making her vomit.

Sense and Sensibility

Isabel is now 4 and a half years old, for her age, sometimes she acts like her age, runs around laughing and playing with her sister, or refuse to eat her vegetables. But sometimes when we have our little conversations, I find that she can be very mature.

Just Sunday, I was helping to comb her hair, we were just talking...

Isabel: "Daddy... why do you buy so many things for me?"

Me: "Well... I want you to be happy, I thought you would like all these presents."

Isabel: "Daddy don't need to buy me things lah. You keep your money in your piggy bank."

I was a little surprised, normally children will ask for presents but she didn't. I guess the best present a child can get from parents is their approval and attention.

Isabel like any other children, likes to eat ice-cream, but on days when she has cough, she will totally refuse it. She will not succumb to any temptation.

Good Bye Auntie Yani - The aftermath

Its been a week since our previous maid has left, although on the surface Ally seems to be doing fine, but...

She seems to have untrained herself in toileting. She was doing so well without diapers, able to tell us when she needs to go, but for the past week, she's been wetting herself as and when she likes without saying a word.

She has also become very difficult during bedtime. She wants to have mommy sit next to her till she falls asleep, wouldn't let her go out of sight. If my wife sneaks out of her room, she'll cry and scream.

She have lost some appetite for milk too, could only finish half of what she used to drink.

Poor thing... Now we have to give her lots of tender loving care to help her get through it.