I feel so proud to be a mom

As I was walking out from Alysha's class this morning. You could see it on my face. I was beaming from ear to ear.

I don't usually drop Alysha off as I have go get to work early. Hubby drops her off. So I don't really get to speak to the teacher much. Today hubby was out of town and so I left really early to drop her off.

The teacher just went on and on about what an angel Alysha is. Of course we all know that she is not an angel all the time. No kid can ever be. But the teacher was very proud of her. "She has contributed to teaching language skills in the class" she said. According to her Alysha speaks very well and many kids have picked up lots of words form her. She also has very gentle, considerate and have good manners and now is willing to share most of the time.

Of course I felt proud but I don't know why but instead of saying thanks I ended up explaining that its all because of the habit of reading. Maybe its the typical Malaysia habit of not being able to take a compliment gracefully.

I have been reading to her since she was a child and till today I have to read her at least 2 book every night before bed. All the reading has not only given her an amazing vocabulary but also she is very knowledgeable about many things for a 4 year old.

For instance, her teacher gets very amused when she says she wants to be an astronaut coz she wants to reach the skies and touch the stars. This is from one of the books where elmo is in an astronaut suit. Books are so wonderful. And she has the most amazing collection of books for a kid.

Anyway, she went on saying how the up bringing of the child makes such a difference. Clearly she is getting a good foundation at home. She has seen many working mothers who neglect their children and work late. They rush off to work even without giving their kids a hug in the morning when they drop them off, etc, etc.

I felt so good. Being a juggler (you know what I mean), work, home, kids, husband, what else ??? is surely not easy. But I have been trying so hard to spend most of the time I have left after work with Alysha and have been managing well so far. Of course I have to give credit to my mom and my maid coz they are with her most of the time. Although my mom has a different style of parenting and often there is conflict between us because of it but she has learn to adjust to my style as much as she can. Same applied to my Suryani, my maid.

Must also give credit to hubby for learning to be a better parent and not screaming away like he used to.

My only fear is that with 2 kids now, I hope she will not regress in any way as I don't have as much time to spend with her anymore.

But then there is also this concept of benign neglect. I read a wonderful post on it and will posting my thoughts and experience on it soon.

Till then