Dancing Queen

One of my favourite Abba songs and now I know why.

On my weekly trip to the supermarket last weekend what should be blaring over the speakers but this very catchy song.

And how does my daughter react? She begins dancing around the aisles much to my embarrassment and amusement of fellow shoppers.

This girl really does have the dancing bug. She is always dancing around the house, making up dance routines from Flamenco to Indian dancing and even Chinese dancing although it doesn't quite resemble anything I've seen before.

Maybe it's time to restart those dance classes.

Mummy's no. 1 helper

Growing up, my parents like many of my friends owned a takeaway. There we learned the value of hard work and the role we played in the family business. Weekends and holidays were spent at the counter taking orders and cleaning chip fryers late into the night.

Now without a family business how do we teach our daughter the meaning of work and responsibility. Maybe at four years old it's rather cruel to assign jobs to her but my ethos is if she wants to do it why not let her try.

Hopefully playing housework will become a habit that will last. But for now I'm quite happy to let her be mummy's number one helper.

Is 4 too early?

Is four too early to start Kumon, or other tuition classes?

Relief! We got our school!

April 16th! An important date for all parents whose kids are starting school or moving to the next stage in their school life in September.

Finally at 8pm we got the confirmation that our little one is going to the infant school 300 meters down the road. 300 meters?! It's a done deal right? Quite possibly but it's always nice to have the confirmation in writing. But 8pm! Tortuous! Whatever happened to automated emails. I heard that some councils issued their confirmations at 6am .... what possibly could have taken so long?!

Anyway I'm relieved that we got the school we wanted and Jo San's buddies are going there too. At least that should put to bed some of the separation anxiety that she's been suffering with.

Today, after two years at nursery I decided on the spur of the moment to leave and put her in a local pre-school. And what a difference the decision has made to my little girl. She was kicking and screaming and refusing to go to nursery this morning but by this evening, having enrolled her at the local pre-school where her friends go she's desperate to go to bed so she can wake up early for the taster session tomorrow.

Please please please let this excitement continue!!!

I Love Sleepovers

At four years old my little girl loves the idea of sleepovers......in our house!

Last night was the second time her friend stayed over. Much to my surprise both times have gone without a hitch! Wash, story time, lights out and then ... not a peep until the following morning. Bliss!!! Even I had an early night and a full 8 hours in bed.

Are all sleepovers alike? From chats with other mummy friends that have tested the waters it seems not. Restless nights, home sickness at 11pm and the dreaded call to pick up their child in the middle of the night are common stories.

I think Jo San will not be swapping her bed anytime soon but her friend is certainly welcome to come and stay whenever I need an early night.

Creative writing

I wonder where my daughter gets her imagination from. She loves role play and her latest obsession is getting her writing pad and recording everything! I say ‘record’ but it’s really a jumble of letters but those letters take on a different meaning everyday.

Yesterday she was delegating work to the imaginary house cleaners, if only they were real! Today she was taking notes of mummy’s symptoms and writing a prescription for Winnie the Pooh to dispense.

Most days those scribbles become a bedtime story. Princess and the Pea and her trip to Sainsburys! And Sleeping Beauty whose fridge is empty..... Hmmm anyone else see a common theme??!

Very occasionally she will pretend she is reading and writing Chinese but her vocabulary is nowhere near her levels of English ..... I say ‘pretend’ because not only can she not read and write Chinese she is virtually unable to speak it too. I blame myself entirely as I always ‘forget’ to speak to her in Cantonese and now she is fully conversant in English it is even more difficult.

Is it too late to start now? And with the local Chinese school unwilling to accept her until she has passed her 5th birthday I fear that we may have missed an opportunity! ....

On the Buses

As a child I remember getting on these double decker buses with my mum. Those iconic London buses with the conductors and orange and black fabric seats.

Okay I’m showing my age but was it 10p a trip or maybe even less?!! Today we went to the Brooklands Museum in Weybridge and paid £1 each. But well worth it for a bit of nostalgia and a chance to show my little girl what buses were like when mummy was her age!

Being the first sunny day of the year Jo San was delighted to be able to run around without a coat. A trip on the top deck with Pooh bear and friends was followed by a quick but very fast journey on the Brooklands racetrack in a car called the Hot Rod!!

She was a bit disappointed that she couldn’t climb onto the fire engines but the aeroplanes were pretty interesting although we didn’t get to see Concorde this time. Maybe next time, when Jo San takes her daddy for a race around the legendary racetrack.

I think some daddy time is long overdue.

Is it a cultural thing?

My daughter is just recovering from a two week cough and with a bunch of party invites just around the corner I’m already fretting about how I will explain to her that she shouldn’t eat chicken nuggets and chips because it’s bad for her cough.

So how do you explain 熱氣 (heatiness?) to your children and non-Chinese speaking friends?

Being a BBC (British Born Chinese) brought up with parents who insist that herbal soups are the best remedy for almost anything and that you must wear a coat when you go outdoors etc etc, I find that I am now also bringing up my child with those values.

I am fast becoming known as the quirky mum with that child that is always dressed for the Arctic no matter what the weather! Hey don’t blame me she’s the one that zipped up the coat, hood and all, when all her playground buddies were running around in just a t-shirt.

So back to party food, at the ripe old age of 4. Has she really outgrown ham sandwiches and fruit bags? I wonder if I could offer Congee (rice porridge) as an alternative next year?