Being Mom

Birthdays. Do you love celebrating birthdays? Do you have a birthday tradition in your family? Or are you among those who try to avoid a celebration? We don't do birthday celebrations. Not until the kids arrived. Aside from the celebrations in their kindergarten, we only had simple celebrations at home with a cake. No present. I like it simple because I think simple is sweet. And more personal. I would love to create a birthday tradition for my family but have not thought of one. As of now, I would stick with a birthday cake, a birthday song and a few pictures. If you have a special birthday tradition, please share with us!

One evening over dinner... Son: Mummy, what was it? The language that you use to talk to grandma on the phone?  Me: That's Hokkien. It's a kind of dialect spoken by those of the Min ancestry called the Hokkiens.  Son: What? Hokkien Mee? (He started laughing)  Me: Not Hokkien Mee. It's people of the Min ancestry.  And since my son related my ancestry to food, I continued my answer by saying... Me: You know, if you say I am Hokkien Mee, then your dad is Hainanese Chicken Rice.  Son: Hainanese Chicken Rice? That's so funny! So, this led to some ancestry and heritage talk with my kids. If you are a Malaysian, I am sure you know what Hainanese Chicken Rice and Hokkien Mee are.  When we talk about the Hainanese Chicken Rice it is poached chicken served with seasoned rice. It is a complete meal by itself, served with a special chilli sauce, ginger sauce, fresh slices of cucumber, coriander and a bowl of soup. It is sometimes served ...

A few years ago my son was into growing plants and asked if he could grow some flowers. We did not have any flower seeds at home and I suggested that he plant some mongo seeds instead. The other reason I told him to grow mongo seeds is that they grow very fast and kids are not very patient at waiting for results.  So everyday, as we leave the house for school (he was attending kindergarten then) he would look at the plants and say, "Mommy! They are growing!" A few days after we planted the mongo seeds, I suggested that we plant some garlic. This time, unlike the mongo seeds that showed some growth immediately on the following day, the garlics showed none.  Two days after we planted the garlics, we went on a short vacation and when we returned, he saw some changes to the garlic plant and shouted, "Mommy, look! The garlics are growing!" Two weeks after that, we found time to do some detailed observations on the plants. We compared the roots and ...