jules nora yati

August 18, 2011
by yati
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No Kerja

That was what Nora pleaded with me this morning when I told her that I have to go to work.

We were sitting on the sofa just messing about when I told her I needed to get ready. She said ‘No’ and pushed me back on to the sofa and sat on my knees. She then got up to get a book and I read it to her. When I finished I told her that I have to go to work.

‘No kerja! Book!’

She brought me book after book. After the third book I got up as she was at her bookshelf and started to put my shoes on. She ran after me with another book and pleaded with me to read the book.

I told her that I will read the book but then I had to go. She was sobbing as she listened to me read the book. Once I’ve finished, she ran to get another book and I started to leave.

How it hurts when I heard her cry for me. I told her to go and see Daddy and promised that I will pick her up from Nursery.

August 14, 2011
by yati
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Weeds and Worms

I’ve been ignoring the garden for a few weeks now. I can say that I’m tired and fasting, but actually, I don’t really have an excuse for the neglect…

So today, as Jules cleared up the shed to fit in his exercise bicycle, I replanted the pak choi and pulled up some weed. Lots of weed! I had to dig deep to get to the roots. We have thistle problem… not due to a couple of weeks neglect, but a couple of years. It took us a few years before we did much around the garden.

With all the digging, I found lots of worms which I kept passing to Nora to keep her entertained and out of trouble. She loves playing with the worm… a bit too much as I caught her kissing a worm.

While I’ve been neglecting the garden, the slugs has had a feast! They’ve massacred my courgette and my garlic. Oh well… at least the lettuces and beetroots are  thriving. I think I will be having salad and fishcake for iftar as my starter.

August 11, 2011
by yati
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Mama Cuddle

I was settling on the sofa to watch TV last night when I heard Nora stir. Then she started to whimper, followed by some babblings and a little cry of ‘Mama cuddle…’

It took all my strength to stop me from going to her and give her a cuddle because if I do that it would take her a long time to settle back. So I stayed on the sofa, feeling bad, and a couple of minutes later she was in deep sleep again.

August 8, 2011
by yati
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A Long Walk Home

For the first time today, Nora walked all the way home from Nursery. So a 10 minutes walk became a 45 minutes walk!

But she was determined to walk it. Bribing her with juice didn’t work today. Every time I told her to get in the buggy, she said ‘jalan’ (walk).

Usually I let her walk until we reach the first road crossing and I’d force her to get on the buggy. That didn’t work today so I told her firmly if she’s determine to walk, she has to hold my hand when we cross the road. She was having none of that but I keep telling her if she didn’t want to hold my hand when we cross the road, I will put her in the buggy. She relented at last.

So we walked and every time we had to cross a road, I kept reminding her to hold my hand and she kept resisting and I kept threatening her to put her in the buggy. This continued until we reached our road.

But I do have to say that when we reached home, I was really proud of her… not sure if I could do this long (as in time and not distance) walk on a daily basis though.

We did bump into Jo and his dog Buffy on the way home. Nora wasn’t too keen on Buffy as she was a bit too excited for Nora’s liking.

August 7, 2011
by yati
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Festival Galore

Today, we let Nora experience the true festival atmosphere!

We went to Lollibop Festival, a festival catered for kids. We saw a bit Rasta Mouse, Shrek and Princess Fiona, lots of bubbles, Peppa Pig and George, human beatbox and Waybaloo.

That’s when the sky opens and it rained, and rained, and rained!

Poor Tom and Josh were soaked! And poor Polly and Lottie, huddled together under the roof of the burger stall.

Us? Well, I told Nora that this is how festivals are supposed to be! Mud everywhere.

She didn’t mind. She loved it there… especially the human beatbox! That girl has got rhythm.

August 4, 2011
by yati
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Of Fruits

When I picked Nora up yesterday from the Nursery, Tracey told me that Nora had a very busy day… as per usual. And yesterday, the Busy Bees made fruit cocktails. Tracey said that the look of concentration on Nora’s face when she’s cutting the grape was just priceless.

Yes, Nora does give all her concentration when she wants too.

As I was chatting to Nathaniel’s mom yesterday, Nora was sharing her raspberries with Nate. Liz commented that she’s such a bad mom for not having any treats for Nate. I replied, ‘You don’t need to bribe your child to get into the buggy!’

Yes, I’m having a hard time getting Nora to sit on her buggy. She wants to walk. That is good but it takes ages for her to walk all the way home. So, I usually have her juice or some snack in my bag to tempt her on to the buggy… doesn’t always work unfortunately and we’ll be having a little row on the way home.

And she’ll be crying until we reach our street, and that’s where I let her out so she can walk home and shout ‘sampai rumah’ when I open the door.

August 1, 2011
by yati
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Ice Cream

A colleague of mine just asked about Nora and I just remembered an incident regarding ice cream over the weekend.

I left Nora watching Something Special on cbeebies and went to the kitchen. A few minutes later she came to the kitchen and started asking for ice cream. I told her we have no ice cream. She kept insisting and even doing the sign language for ice cream.

So I told her I’ll put some yoghurt in the ice cream mould but it would not be ready for a few hours. She wasn’t happy with that but I distracted her by saying we’re going out to the park.

A few hours later when we got back from the playground, she’s forgotten about it and all is calm in the household again… that is until sleep time…

July 30, 2011
by yati
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Water Baby

membership cardJules joined the gym today… Me? I joined a Leisure Centre. I think I will mostly be using the sauna. Such hard life.

The reason I’m going to try the Leisure Centre out is so I could take Nora to the pool. And today, we did just that. She was scared for the first few minutes and then she was splashing around. We were in the big pool instead of the kiddie pool as there was a swimming lesson going on.

Anyway, I will take her down to the pool on a weekly basis and I find out swimming lessons for her and for me.

When we were at Cornwall, Nora did go into the pool. But she only lasted a few minutes and she wanted out. I guess it’s because Mama wasn’t in there with her.

July 26, 2011
by yati
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Proud Mother Syndrome V: Do’a

For about a month Nora insisted that I read the do’a book at bedtime. The book has pictures and I just explain to her what the pictures are about (‘look, he’s waking up’, ‘he’s going to bed’, ‘they are breaking their fast’, etc) and recited some of the do’a that goes with some of the pictures.

One of the do’a I kept repeating is the one to recite before you sleep.

She has now moved on to another book, a Malay pantun (rhyme) book called ‘Sayang’ but I still recite the sleep do’a before I read her the pantun.

Today, as I picked up the Sayang book and started to recite the do’a, Nora shush me and put a finger on my lips. She then settled down and recited the do’a all on her own! She did miss a word but that doesn’t matter… she tried really hard and I’m proud of her.