Musings of a SAHM

Finally Feeling the Rewards

2010-03-24T23:44:00.003+08:00

I had not blogged here for AGES..........life with Sam had felt so mundane recently I couldn't bring myself to write abt him after facing him day in day out day in day out day in day out!!!!

Just 3 nights ago I had felt depressed with having to do the same bedtime ritual - get him to keep his toys, sit on the toilet bowl, clean up after his poop, brush his teeth without playing with water, change into his pyjamas, read to him, lie in the dark next to him till he falls asleep - night after night after night with no way out and no life of my own!!

But tonight something happened to make me feel that all my sacrifices ARE going somewhere, as some of my colleagues sincerely reassure me: Sam sang to me a song that I've read/sang to him as part of the bedtime ritual! And he did it without any prompting, just out of the blue, when I was changing him into his pyjamas!

It was "5 Little Ducks", and though Sam's pronouciation is atrocious, the tune is off, he missed out whole sentences, and didn't even start with the correct number, I'm still very proud of him!!!!

I had not even realised Sam could now indicate numbers easily on his right hand!

Oh, I'm so glad that all these nightly efforts to read to him are paying off in some way, even if his recognition of the alphabet is still way off. At least he's remembering something!

This is probably the kind of bonding in Sam's early years that my colleagues had reassured me would last till adulthood...............at least now I don't feel like I've been wasting my time & effort & sacrificing my nightlife for nothing!!!

Christmas in Changi Airport T3

2009-12-18T18:31:00.006+08:00

Since Sam's childcare centre was closed yesterday & today while the teachers prepare for the new school year, I decided to bring Sam to explore Changi's T3 today. Partly cos I've never been to the new terminal before & hubby wasn't keen to go. Partly also cos of the various X'mas stuff that's going on in T3, so this seems like a good time to go explore.

Sam was excited on the way to the airport. Asked me when the train stopped at every single MRT station if that was our stop! I'm surprised at my own good temper for not blowing up after the 45 min trip!

Once in the airport Sam went wild. After all, it's not often there's a non-crowded 'shopping centre' with such a large compound for him to run & push the pram around. Soon into T3 we found the bouncing castle, but Sam was only interested in the small playground next to it.

Had lunch in the 3Top area, where Sam interestedly watched the planes land & taxi along. After which he commented: "This place good for Sam." which I took it to mean he likes the airport. ;)

He was surprisingly well behaved (as in, only whined once) when I asked him to leave the toy shop, even if it was after his naptime. I wonder if it was because I had let him played to his heart's content earlier, or because I was the only one with him & thus he knew his tantrums won't help.

Only when we were leaving the airport did we manage to catch the Musical Ball in action. Sam loved the music coming from it - sat down at the steps & listened quietly while munching his biscuit (left pic). So when the performance was over he was calmly told me he wants to wait for the music to come again (right pic). Since the next performance would be half hour later & we were WAY past his nap time, I didn't agree.

But I managed to get 2 sweets from the treats that the Musical Ball sprewed out, & Sam was satisfied to move on to sit in the train. He fell asleep in the train as I expected, but woke after we got off, so tonight I'll have to put him to bed a trifle earlier.

All in all, an enjoyable trip to the airport for both of us!

Sam Taking the Bus

2009-12-08T22:07:00.002+08:00

Today got Sam to board the bus by himself, ie. he held my hand as we went up the bus, then paid for his own fare with his Child EZ-link card, and chose his own seat. He was excited by his new-found independence, I was relieved not having to carry him + 3 bags up a bus, and even got to shop for his Thomas card holder! ;)

Dressing Up & Funny Faces

2009-11-23T12:29:00.003+08:00

Another overdued post: Sam during a family dinner on 11 Oct 2009, got it into his head to wear my shawl & necklace, then began posing for my camera with plenty of funny faces!

Sam's Cauliflower

2009-11-23T10:19:00.002+08:00

Yes, haven't felt like being a good mummy for a long, long while.

Here's a back-dated posting I told myself I mustn't forget:

An enrichment school at Safra Jurong has this poster, which one day - 6 Nov 09 according to my photo - Sam pointed to and told me seriously: "cauliflower"

I can only say that I was doubly glad my Sam had finally showed some kind of imagination that did NOT involve cars!

Sam as Hairy Potter

2009-10-18T12:09:00.002+08:00

Obviously with my long absence from this blog I haven't been in a mothering mood. But this is too funny, a must-share - a Harry Potter spoof made on 9 Oct 2009 as part of Funky Friday's activities, starring my very own Sam as male 'lead':

http://www.mediafire.com/?xmmmmaz2mwm

Kudos to Teacher Drizzle for coming up with the movie, after the children decided Sam looked like Harry Potter with his toy spectacles.

My 1st Evening Out

2009-10-06T22:47:00.002+08:00

This evening was the 1st time in 3 years I got to spend the evening out, without Sam. In order to make it for my company's Social Nite - Tiger Brewery tour, followed by food & free-flow beer - hubby had agreed to try to make it back home earlier. In-laws also agreed to help fetch Sam from school & feed him dinner. I had planned to be back home by 8:30pm latest, so that I could put Sam to bed for the night. So everything seems well planned & easy, right???

I didn't realise I had been unconsciously stressed out. Last night, I actually had a nightmare: dreamt that Sam caught stomach flu again........my right arm was holding Sam over the bathroom basin, where he was vomitting into, my left cradling the phone, informing the office I couldn't make it for the brewery tour after all.

Isn't it pathetic that I can't even go out to enjoy myself in peace?????? The nightmare had left a bad taste in my mouth: I spent my day checking my hp in case the school called to ask me to bring Sam home for whatever kind of emergency my imagination could come up with.

Still, I'm so glad I did manage to go. It was irritating to have to wolf down 10 finger food sized sandwiches & down half a mug of beer in 20 min, so that I could go off without a hungry stomach, but it was nice to be able to go for the tour & enjoy the company of fellow colleagues. They're such a fun bunch. I can't wait for the Malacca holiday.........assuming Sam would stay healthy, of course!

Sam's 1st Field Trip - To the Zoo

2009-09-27T15:33:00.006+08:00

Sam had his 1st school field trip on Friday. Teacher Drizzle had planned the trip for the children to see the polar bears & sun bears she's been teaching in her class, and the trip on 25th Sept 2009 involved many parents/grandparents/caregivers. I was pleasantly surprised to find the teacher had prepared a detailed itinerary:

There was also a mini workbook for the children to complete over the weekend, to emphasie the trip to the kids, I guess. I still couldn't manage to get Sam to colour in the pictures of the bears, he kept wanting to draw on the back of the pieces of paper instead!

But the trip turned out quite smoothly, for Sam & me at least. Sam was being quite a good boy, staying close to me most of the time. He had a whale of a time at break time (while waiting for the Splash Safari show to start), eating jelly & biscuits shared by fellow classmates & their friendly parents, ignoring the healthy sandwiches & apple juice the teachers prepared:

Lunchtime was at the KFC in the Kids Rainforest. I let Sam indulge in a scoop of Ben & Jerry's ice cream, cos I was so hot by that time & needed the treat myself! ;P Since he had been quite well behaved, I also allowed him my fries, which he finished together with the Popcorn Chicken that was part of his Chicky Meal.

The bears, the reason for the trip, weren't particularly exciting for Sam that day, who found the stingrays in the Fragile Forest more exciting, goodness knows why. But frankly, I myself also found the Fragile Forest more interesting that day, seeing clearly in daylight bats & sloths feeding, and monitor lizards moving actively & scaring the ducks. Sam saw only 2 butterflies, the purpose for the trip to the Fragile Forest, near the exit.

Sam managed to stay awake on the bus on the way back to school, having a lot of fun playing with Megan, a very cute little girl. That was also when I discovered Teacher Drizzle had introduced the song "Nobody" by the Korean group Wondergirls to the class, and Sam could actually jiggle (I wouldn't call his moves 'dance') to the music!!

Photos taken by Teacher Drizzle during the trip: http://www.slide.com/r/Ki7L-8ii4D8zjR--1AQCRqYm0Tct9uTM?previous_view=lt_embedded_url.

Conversation On the Toilet Bowl

2009-09-20T23:12:00.002+08:00

Was trying to encourage Sam to poop on the toilet bowl, and somehow the conversation ended up like this:

Me: "erh-eeeerrrrmmmm"

Sam: "poo-poo inside."

Hubby: "Yes, so must erh-erm the poo-poo out."

Sam: "poo-poo sleeping." (complete with hand-on-ear gesture, head tilted to one side.)

*Me broke up in laughter. Hubby impressed with Sam's 1st original thought.*

Hubby: "what if poo-poo wake up later when Sam is sleeping???!!!"

*Sam laughed sheepishly.*

Anyway, the usual promise reward of a sweet resulted in yet another successful toilet training attempt.

Over-Controlling Mum?

2009-09-17T09:20:00.002+08:00

I got a shock yesterday when I went to pick up Sam from childcare & found him munching on - of all things - a prawn cracker. I was so stunned, I didn't dare ask the teacher why Sam was eating such an unhealthy snack. I was afraid I would have sounded too harsh & unreasonable, and should that offering be from a parent, instead of the teacher, it would have been rather embarassing.

So by this morning when I'm able to blog about this topic sensibly, I was thinking more along the lines of "am I being too paranoid?" instead of "how to stop my son from eating unhealthy foods?". After all, I'm an avid snacker myself. Though only God knows the lengths I've gone to to prevent my son seeing me eat potato chips, chocolates & potato chips.

So why on earth should I try stopping my son from eating all the 'interesting' foods???? I might as well enjoy sharing the snacks with him, right, just as my own mother does with me. The thing is, my mummy didn't start fighting with me over bags of potato chips till I was in adulthood, earning sufficiently to support our eating habits.

Sam is only 3 years old, and usually refuses to eat vegetables & fruits. I've a hard enough time trying to get him eat balanced meals so that I won't have to resort to popping more health supplements into him (already he's eating Vit C tablets). I don't want to affect his appetite with all these junk foods. Already I'm compromising by reducing his dinner portions (by 2 spoonfuls) so that he could eat his fav biscuits or ice cream as a reward for completing the meal.

And for that matter, surely there're healthier snacks than prawn crackers????? I'm not even talking about raisins (believe me I've tried, but Sam just spat out the raisins after giving them a good chew), or similarly healthy snacks all the magazines I read agree to be good for children. I'm talking about snacks with some kind of nutrients inside them: flavoured breakfast cereals such as CoCo-Crunch, chocolate-flavoured oatmeal balls (from Quaker), Hi-iron/calcium biscuits, candy laced with vit C & made with fruit juices. With such choices in the market, why do people like my in-laws still want to buy gummies with nothing in them except sugar & artificial flavourings??????

Am I being too uptight over a minor matter??????????

Sam at the Hairdresser's

2009-09-14T11:12:00.003+08:00

This is a back-dated posting. Was clearing the photos in my handphone & realised I haven't posted this.

Brought Sam to the barber's at my mum's place on 1 Sept 09, when his childcare centre was closed for the Teacher's Day holiday. Turned out plenty of parents had the same idea too, cos the cheap hairdresser (S$3.80 per haircut) had a long queue. So we went along to his 1st hairdresser.

My mum actually want to wait, cos it's more expensive there. But at $6, it's dirt cheap considering what the shop at Pioneer Mall wants to charge me - $20 - when they couldn't even get Sam seated on the chair! And Sam had steadfastedly refused to even enter the EC House ($10) at Jurong Point........

Anyway, Sam spent his waiting time (there was one other customer before us) taking photos with my camera phone, and the results are so pretty I've posted them here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=109816&id=682608180&l=509a7fa178

And Sam was such a good boy that day, sitting still throughout the haircut. So I had no need of the extra set of clothes I brought for both of us! The barber rewarded him with a lollipop before I could stop him, and Sam polished off the sweet before we even reached home.

Hopefully all his future trips would be this good........

Short Trip to Botanical Gardens

2009-09-14T10:29:00.005+08:00

Brought Sam to the Singapore Botanical Gardens for the 2nd time yesterday afternoon. Lucky the sun wasn't too hot. Thought Sam would enjoy feeding the swans & fishes, and he sure did!!!!

Basically, he not only fed the swans all the bread we brought for the trip (2 slices), he also ransacked the diaper bag & fed the hungry birds his own biscuits! I had to stop him from feeding the cup of cereals I prepared for him as a snack, despite his moans & cries of disappointment.

It was a good thing I did so too, cos he was ravenous after all the excitement, and finished the entire cup of peanut butter & chocolate cereal balls. Turns out the tap of the child-sized basin in the toilet was loose enough for Sam to press himself, and I had to stop him from pressing the tap just for the fun of it! And the water cooler tap was easy for him to press too (unlike the new one in MacRitchie Reservoir), so Sam drank a LOT of water from there:

We didn't do much else at the park. Tried to get Sam to enjoy nature by touching the low tree branch of the Heritage Tree (that's featured on our 5-dollar note), but he wasn't interested. Couldn't even get him to sit on the branch long enough for a photo shoot - he was afraid he'll fall down!

Sam in School - Sept 09 (updated)

2009-09-13T21:40:00.000+08:00

I've been trying to think of a sensible way to showcase the photographs the teachers took of Sam (& fellow classmates) in school. And this is about the best I can come up with at this time.

So I'll post 1 every month containing all the links to photos taken by his teachers during school hours, then I'll put up the link to this post in the "Photos Galore" in the sidebar. The downside to this method is I'll end up updating the same post several times a month (if I'm hardworking & update every time I get the email from his teachers), and hence the post will be re-posted several times a month. But I can't think of a better way, so here it goes..............

11th Sept 09: http://www.slide.com/r/KFaXHVR67T-15q7tFEcN0YuR0mxTjxoA?previous_view=lt_embedded_url and http://www.slide.com/r/Tsx4eNqi3T-U_ZMeeh-x4Rlt9fY_ofv4?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original (巧克力水果串)

10th Sept 2009 : http://www.slide.com/r/E2_J1CA_4D9ETHsRMXiEKDqTWQfh6jJz?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (indoor play)

9th Sept 2009 : http://www.slide.com/r/kqIQ9nRp1T_6TeY0PNPi59Pg95sWBp5B?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (outdoor walk)

8th Sept 2009 : http://www.slide.com/r/Ult4DQ_l0z-_IHNfSPj-kf44QvNy6WlO?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (water play, bubble play)

7th Sept 2009 : http://www.slide.com/r/VOUymVYF4j-Y8gzKkp1vXl5p2-iEkd1c?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (bubble play)

Week of 11 Sept 09 : http://www.slide.com/r/7lnNBkUk5D9WJWgyWE9jraLbaDEItBPH?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original (巧克力水果串，坐火车)

4th Sept 09: http://www.slide.com/r/jp1GJvgD6z_JBJNwVpVA0Q628x1V6J7R?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (sandbox play, cookie-making)

3rd Sept 09: http://www.slide.com/r/2PkjNrrctj_UhHbKyH9225-vdiAqrp7A?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (sponging teddy bear, tricycle play, bubble play, Darrien's birthday)

2nd Sept 09: http://www.slide.com/r/8EVtjUFS5j_GCNLL8sfZYVWyB8HwJRhy?previous_view=lt_embedded_url (Kids Amaze play)

A Funeral Wake

2009-09-06T23:28:00.002+08:00

Maternal grandmother passed away on Wed night. Today was the funeral wake. And it was so bloody difficult to feel sad properly when half of me was constantly worried about Sam shrieking in the middle of the funeral. Why can't the boy keep still for an instant???? If I had known he was going to be so difficult I wouldn't have brought him along on Sat night. Then maybe he wouldn't be overtired and be easier to control this morning. Men are so useless when it comes to babysitting, can't even keep the little bugger from running around in the funeral.

CCC Closed!

2009-08-28T10:47:00.004+08:00

Turns out that Sam's childcare centre would be closed today, cos as many as 28 students and 5 teachers are down with stomach flu!!!!!! So they're closing for disinfection. So Sam can't go to school today after all.................I was still contemplating yesterday night on letting go in the afternoon for the cookie baking. Well, that's totally out to the question now.

Furthermore, I now would have to bring Sam back to the doctor for a follow-up, to obtain a certificate stating Sam is fit for returning to school, cos of the spread of the stomach flu in the CCC. Sigh!!! I do dislike going to the family clinic, cos there's always a risk of infection there. Oh well, what to do???

Am getting sick & tired of facing Sam at home. Luckily I had a store of library books from last week's visit, and had just found a new Korean drama - style - to watch, so am managing to amuse myself when Sam is napping.

Still, Sam is getting ridiculously rude to his grandparents when he spends so much time at home. I'm really at a loss of how to get him to learn good manners. After facing him for the past 2 days I'm now just trying to spend as much time away from him as possible. If I have to play cars with him again I'll probably blow up again! Can't wait for tomorrow to go shopping with hubby!!!!!

Sam Down Again - Stomach Flu This Time

2009-08-27T11:53:00.003+08:00

I knew life's too good to be true. After my post on Tuesday, Sam vomited when I went to fetch him from the childcare centre that very evening.

By 7 pm, just after the doctor diagnosed him with stomach flu, Sam threw up again for the 4th time. By this time it was pure fluid.......whatever water he had drank for the past half hour, plus some bile, I'm pretty sure. He's already emptied his system of his lunch, which I could tell from the wholesome grains of rice & barley, that he barely chewed through his meal that day. So I guess that got him susceptible to whatever caused the stomach flu.

Anyway, doctor gave him 3 days of MC, plus medicine for vomiting, wind, and diarrhea, which I requested for, just in case. Sam threw up again at 8pm, which got me worried, cos I thought the suppository the doc gave was supposed to stop the vomiting. Again I prepared my bags in case I had to get Sam to the A&E for dehydration.

Fortunately, Sam stopped vomiting in the night, even though he didn't sleep well, complaining frequently of stomachache and had started running a temperature of 38degC. By morning I was pretty sure the 'stomachache' was partly due to his hunger, cos he actually asked to eat biscuits.

Though he soon dosed off at 10 am, a mere 2 hrs after he got up, he was soon up & bouncing by the afternoon. He got hold of the stickers given by the doctor the evening before, and instead of sticking them somewhere else, placed them on his tummy, then proudly displayed his creation to me & the camera!

After a 2.5 hrs nap at 3pm, he woke up asking for food. I took that to be a good sign. He finished a whole bowl of noodle soup for dinner!

Well, this morning he polished off 3/4 slices of bread & 1.5 pcs of biscuits, in 2 batches. He seemed quite his usual self. I'm now wondering how I can tahan facing him at home tomorrow, and if he seems so okay, if I should send him to school tomorrow..........

Sam Finally Sits on Musical Train

2009-08-25T15:15:00.000+08:00

Finally, Sam is no longer afraid to sit on a moving musical car. Or in this case, the Thomas & Friends train. Definitely a milestone to be recorded, this having occurred on 22nd August 2009, in Jurong Point's new wing on Basement 1.

Updates

2009-08-25T09:53:00.002+08:00

Realised I haven't updated this blog for some time. Well, the fact is, I didn't really wanna be a mother for the past few weeks, so was definitely not in the mood to talk about my son anywhere. :P

What happened was, barely one week after Sam recovered from HFMD, he came down with flu, this time, with a sudden onset of fever of 39degC. Both his Dr Ong & I agreed Tamiflu wasn't necessary, so Sam just got the normal course of antibiotics, but his fever took several days to subside.

At one point, his fever refused to come down even after taking Paracetemol. I got so worried, I cancelled my assignment at the last minute & actually packed my bags in case we had to rush Sam down to the hospital in the middle of the night.

Fortunately that wasn't necessary. And Sam's fever finally stayed away on the 4th day of the antibiotics course. And he recovered just in time for our holiday to KL...........it was a close call, we were contemplating cancelling the holiday, in fact.

Anyway, last week Sam made it back to school for the entire week without falling sick. I've been dosing him with Vit C & herbal teas.........if by next week he's still strong & healthy, he would have passed a milestone, ie. 2 weeks in school without falling ill. So me keeping my fingers crossed..........

Sam's Cleared!

2009-07-29T13:18:00.003+08:00

Yes! Sam is cleared of HFMD and can go to school tomorrow!!!! Hip hip hoorah!!!!!!!

Me have been planning what to do tomorrow since yesterday. Can't wait for Sam to go to childcare tomorrow, then I'll be free to go eat my fav pork cutlet at Tonkichi in Ngee Ann City, buy hubby's fav tomato bread, and perhaps visit the new Ion!

Ah! It's been a torturous week............esp. last Thurs night when Sam's fever peaked just below 39 degC, and Friday when his whole mouth was painful from the ulcers & couldn't eat and needed to be persuaded to drink his milk.

I'm only grateful this time he caught a mild strain, and thus didn't have full blown ulcers on his hands, feet & diaper area, just a few red spots. Oh, please don't ever let Sam catch HFMD again!!!!

Things Sam are Afraid Of

2009-07-28T13:44:00.002+08:00

I never quite understand why Sam is afraid of certain things.

Initially was the green monster in the toilet. I dunno where on earth he got this idea, but it was bloody difficult to convince him to shower in those days.

Then he would insist on closing the windows when we're wiping him at night, cos of the cockroaches that would fly in if the windows are open. No, we've never had cockroaches flying in through the bedroom window yet.

Recently he got this crazy fear of the Mona Lisa. No, I'm not joking. He's already recognized the Mona Lisa from his Little Einsteins TV shows, and for some strange reason he's got scared of it. Now he refused to watch that particular episode, and he's forced us to turn our Magic Cube (souvenir from Paris, shows various famous artwork in the Louvre on different sides of the cube) around so that the picture of the Mona Lisa wouldn't be visible.

Then surprisingly, when we saw a TV advert yesterday night regarding the Da Vinci exhibition in the Science Centre, he willingly wanted to go and see the 'big' Mona Lisa. Now I wonder how long this mood of his will last, and if we should pay to bring him to go see the exhibition.............

Hanging On......

2009-07-25T09:24:00.002+08:00

I'm gonna lose my sanity if this goes on. Already I've lost my temper at Sam yesterday night, after trying the whole day to get him to drink water. I've cajoled, coaxed, threatened (with scoldings, toys, & pain) and scolded him, and with exception to the last method, each time he would only take ONE sip of water.

I know it's painful for him to even drink water, but I can't possibly risk him getting dehydrated right???? Esp. if his fever just subsided! And it was with promises of ice cream (which in the end he only ate half a scoop) did he finish his regular sized mashed potato from KFC.

Later I'm gonna get more of the mashed potato, and also some baby food. Think that's all he can tahan to eat now, since it doesn't require chewing & hence less likely to trigger the pain in various parts of his mouth, though no matter what, it'll be painfuil for him the moment he swallows.

Irritating thing is, though Sam finds it difficult to swallow, he certainly has no problem screaming. Now he even cuts back on his speech & goes moaning all day long, but when things don't go his way, he still finds it okay to scream shrilly. And now he'll cry (complete with tears, red nose, & mucus) at the drop of the pin. It's driving me nuts!!!!!!

Getting Worse.......

2009-07-23T21:50:00.002+08:00

Sam's fever got higher today. Refused to go down past the 38 degC mark. If it gets higher than 39 degC I'm gonna call the doc, cos he did assure me yesterday that only a mild fever is to be expected.

In the morning Sam was still quite okay: finished a whole piece of bread with egg mayo at 10 am, and willingly ate 5 cocktail sausages while waiting for his noodles. The problem came after his nap, his ulcers spread to his tongue and the side of his mouth (probably cos of his thumb sucking). By dinnertime he found it painful to eat solid foods, and I spent half an hour cajoling him to eat one slice of potato with his fav Yakult.

Can only hope now that this is the worst that he would be facing, cos I don't want him to find it painful to even drink. At least now he's willing to drink his "Ding Dang" & Ribena. Me considering making him banana milkshake tomorrow.......perhaps letting him try KFC's mashed potato.......anything to fill his little tummy!

Hand Foot & Mouth Disease

2009-07-22T22:26:00.002+08:00

I almost instinctively started to type the title of this post as "Sam is Sick". Then I realised I've already had previous posts of the same titles, so I came up with this boring, and also accurate, one instead.

Yep, Sam's got HFMD. This morning I still didn't know, sent him up the school bus after he happily finished half a slice of peanut butter sandwich.

So imagine my surprise when I got a call from the childcare centre 20 min later, telling me they found ulcers in Sam's mouth, so can I please fetch him to the doctor's.

Fortunately my tour today is in the afternoon, so I managed to get Sam to the doctor's & back before going off for my assignment. And the doctor confirmed Sam did catch HFMD, and now has to be quarantined at home for 1 week before going back to the doctor for follow-up. Only after he's been cleared next Wed can he go back to school.

Luckily for Sam, he's got a mild strain of the HFMD, so not likely to have ulcers on his hands. Actually, it had seemed a bit silly to trot Sam to the doctor when he's not having a fever, not feeling unwell, basically still his naughty self, except for some white spots inside the cheeks of his mouth.

In fact, when I received the call from the childcare centre this morning, we had thought Sam was too heaty from the ONE durian he ate yesterday, and my MIL even cooked barley water while we were at the doctor.

But, well, no amount of heatiness would induce normal ulcers to grow in the cheeks, I think. And by this evening, Sam had started to feel a bit of discomfort when eating dinner, so I gave him his oral drops. Which, by the way, he was fascinated with.....went babbling to his granny about this new medicine and the new method of drinking it (drops directly into the mouth, instead of drinking from syringe or cup or spoon).

And luckily I checked his temperature just before bedtime, cos he was running a slight fever by then, 37.8 degC.

So now I'll be stuck with the little bugger for one entire week............in addition to making sure we don't share food with him, have to think of ways to occupy him for 6 more days without him stepping out of the house. Sigh!! Why can't Sam be those super-healthy boys who never fall sick??????? I should never have thrown away the used syringes after he recovered from his phlegm 5 days ago!

1st Funky Friday

2009-07-14T22:03:00.002+08:00

Every Friday, Sam's childcare centre will have Funky Friday, where the children do something special in accordance to a pre-decided theme.

Last week was their 1st Funky Friday, and Sam's class had a picnic. Yes, the picnic that caused his slight stomach upset I complained about in the earlier post. After discussion with his teacher we decided it was probably due to the 2 glasses of orange juice Sam drank during the picnic, since he wasn't used to such large amounts of juice at one go.

Anyway, the photos to Sam's exciting picnic can be viewed here: http://www.slide.com/r/l70eKXDy6z98j9dQ2RRvx3OxgSoDV3eK?previous_view=mscd_embedded_url&view=original.

Will try to attach the links to the photos of last week later, after I've survived this stressful work week.

Why So Much Junk Food?????

2009-07-12T10:02:00.005+08:00

I don't understand why on earth Singaporean parents like to give their children junk food to bring to school. I never had such problems when Sam was in KL with all the expatraite parents of various nationalities.

My complaint? Sam had a 'picnic' in school the Friday past. We parents were told we can pack some snacks for the picnic, for the children to eat in addition to their usual teabreak food prepared by the school.

Well, I packed some Ritz biscuits, which were not totally consumed by the kids, cos they have more interesting goodies, including Oreos and jelly. I only know of these 2 items cos Sam had Oreo crumbs on his mouth when I came to fetch him, and his classmates were still popping the jelly directly from the containers.

Thanks to the apparently totally unhealthy picnic, Sam lost his appetite for dinner that night. At night he complained of a slight stomachache, and continued to have bloated stomach all of next day, ie. yesterday. By nighttime I realised he had a low fever, which fortunately subsided after 1 dose of medicine at night and doesn't not appear to be the onset of the HMFD that's spreading in his school.

Really, why must Singaporean parents give such unhealthy foods for snacks??? Admittedly, my Ritzs weren't terribly healthy either, but at least I try not to give Sam all-chocolate biscuits, and the jelly I buy for him are the Japanese konnyaku ones that claim to contain fibre & real fruit juice. I myself even cut down on my fav potato chips in an attempt not to let him eat so much of the titbits.

That's not the only example of unhealthy snacking. For my Friday's tour, the primary school specifically asked not to have the break in MacDonald's, and the students are to bring their own snacks.

Well, the teacher-in-charge boarded the bus with a large plastic bag full of Mamee, which he distributed out to the students even before we reach the destination! So during breaktime, the students ended up buying & eating Pocky and potato chips. What's the point of not going to MacDonald's then???????

Really, why can't the children of today snack on buns, cakes & sandwiches like I used to when I was their age??? I'm not even asking for healthier choices like apples & other fruits. Even if we mums are too busy to pack a cooked lunch for our children like what they do in other countries, there're always healthier snacks available.

I now recall a boy from another tour - also Primary 4 - where he chose to eat the peanut butter sandwich his mother packed for him, & exchanged part of his meal with a friend who was packed CoCo Crunch. And get this, they were having their break in MacDonald's, where his classmate ate 2 Fillet 'o' Fish in the 20 min break! Now I can only hope that I can manage to bring Sam up to like the healthy foods too when he's older!!!

More Photos of Sam in School

2009-07-06T08:58:00.002+08:00

After staying at home for 4 days, Sam finally went back to school last Friday, where he apparently enjoyed a variety of activities, judging from the photos received from the teacher - bless her for working on a Sunday - yesterday night:

http://www.slide.com/r/f3MDgOLk4T_4acKvVuNiMEmrEePWgyWG?previous_view=lt_embedded_url

On a sadder note, there's now a 2nd confirmed case of HFMD in the childcare centre, fortunately not in Sam's class. Still, I'm letting Sam take one tablet of Vit C every morning, just to help boost his immunity system. Keeping my fingers crossed........

My Wordpress Blog

2009-07-04T14:58:00.002+08:00

Haven't had any posts with the label "Finally a Woman" for a long while, cos had started a new blog (yes, another one) in Wordpress. That one will mainly focus on my work-related posts, and also some of my random thoughts on current affairs. So if you're interested in me, myself, you're welcome to http://tanhui2.wordpress.com. ;)

Would Sam Catch HFMD?

2009-07-04T09:53:00.002+08:00

Had been near impossible to blog with Sam around the house. Yesterday had finally sent him back to childcare after 4 days at home, mainly cos I had to work in the afternoon.

Otherwise, the teacher had actually advised keeping Sam at home till he doesn't require any medication, cos the centre had confirmed its 1st case of Hand Foot Mouth Disease on Monday, and children with weakened immunity system are thus encouraged to refrain from going to school.

So now I'm starting to behave like a paranoid mum, checking Sam constantly for any signs of fever, trying to guess if his refusal to finish his breakfast is a sign of impending illness, or if he's just being difficult.

Most irritating is that his phlegm still hasn't cleared after 5 days of medication. Fortunately it seems to be thinning. I don't want to have to bring Sam to the doctor again for antibiotics, though I'm sorely tempted to do so, just so that he would recover faster and I wouldn't have to worry like that.

And I know my worries are in part on behalf of myself, cos if Sam gets HFMD and can't go to school, I'll have trouble going to work, which is all the more important to me in the next 2 weeks as I have 3 assignments & also training for the HeritageFest tour. My in-laws can't be relied on taking care of troublesome Sam for an entire day, my mum just recovered from flu herself, and there's always the danger of passing the HFMD to Tiffany, who fell sick earlier this week too.

Maybe tomorrow I should go temple to 拜拜, just for ease of mind & to pray for patience to stop myself going paranoid!

Sick..........Again!

2009-06-29T16:09:00.002+08:00

Yes, Sam is ordered home rest, yet again!!!!!!!

Yesterday Sam started coughing. Could hear the phelgm all stuck in his throat. And we were both kept awake at night by his coughing. So this morning I whisked him off to Dr Ong again.

And now I'm to keep Sam homebound for the rest of the week. Upon hearing my groan, Dr Ong agreed Sam could go back to school if his cough stops.

So now, I'm stuck with Sam for the next 2 days. Keeping my fingers crossed that he'll recover sufficiently to go back to childcare by Thursday, cos I don't think I'll be able to tahan having him home all day for so long!!! Besides, I still have my MINDEF tour this Friday to prepare for...............provided that didn't get cancelled in the last minute again!

On a lighter note, hubby has finally succumbed and bought his MacBook, so now I have this Acer all to myself. ;) Planning to rip out all my fav songs so that can listen from the hp. Also have to clear out all the old photos & videos of Sam from my hp & upload onto the net. Plenty to do while catching up on my fav dramas!! ;)

To Go Or Not To Go

2009-06-25T09:50:00.002+08:00

This H1N1 flu pandemic is starting to drive me crazy. All simply because Sam is due for his 2nd Hep B vaccine shot..........last Wednesday. I forgot to bring him for the shot over the weekend, and had planned to do so tomorrow, fetching him earlier from childcare.

Now, I'm starting to worry if it's a good idea to expose Sam to the dangers of the family clinic. What if he caught a flu bug there while waiting to take the vaccine??????

Considering the option of bringing him all the way to the paediatrician for the shot. At least there he won't be exposed to sick adults.

Hubby wondering if the 2nd shot can be delayed. But with the H1N1 spreading locally, I doubt if the booster shot can wait for another 6 months.

Equally irritating is the fact that Sam seems to be having a sensitive nose. He's been waking up in the morning with a slight blocked nose, which goes down his throat and causes him to cough - 2 ~ 3 times - after he wakes up. If it's because of the aircon, then why does he appear to be fine in the airconditioned childcare centre or in the shopping centres???? Past few days had given him the running nose medicine, now not sure if that's a good idea. Sigh! if Sam is having running nose & not sensitive nose then maybe he should not be taking the booster shot now.

UUURRRGGGHHHH!!!!!!!

Sam Tries to Catch a Bird

2009-06-24T11:02:00.002+08:00

Whenever Sam sees a bird, be it a sparrow or a mynah, he would try to catch it, like this:

Usually the bird would have flown away upon his noisy approach (since he sometimes run towards the bird). And I really don't see how he can hope to catch anything living bird with his single small hands!

But he doesn't understand my explanations, and since he enjoys it, oh well, I'll just let him enjoy himself now. ;)

Thumbs Up, Sam!

2009-06-23T13:22:00.002+08:00

Everybody knows when we want to indicate "good", we stick out one of our thumbs.

Well, Sam tried to do so, when commenting on his fries:

No use trying to correct him.............after he saw the way we laughed at his gesture, he happily insisted on sticking up his forefinger every single time ever since.

I'm only glad he didn't stick up the middle finger! ;P

When Sam is An Angel.......

2009-06-18T19:02:00.002+08:00

I must blog this, so that in future when I'm in any doubt, or when Sam behaves like a devil (again), I have something to remind me that there ARE times when he behaves like an angel instead..............

Sam's been very sticky to me this week. As hubby said, he's always gotten very sticky to me when he just started school.

There's been frequent declarations of affections to me from Sam recently, one of my fav being: "Mummy happy, Sam happy!" which I choose to intepret as "when mummy is happy, Sam will be happy too!"

But today Sam surpassed himself. We were on our way home from childcare when I pointed out a Toyota Corolla Altis to him.

Sam: Sam earn money, Sam buy Toyota Corolla.

Me: Good.

Sam: Mummy buy Corolla.

Me (with fake frown): Mummy don't earn enough money, Mummy cannot buy big car.

Sam: Sam earn money, Sam buy big car Mummy.

Oh, I was so happy to hear this!!!!!!

I wonder if he would still remember this when he grows up. ;P

Sam the Sushi King!

2009-06-16T18:53:00.002+08:00

Sam obviously hadn't ate his fill at the childcare centre for the past 2 days. Goodness knows why: the food there is pretty okay (since I myself ate there during his 1st 3 days of school), the teachers are giving him attention during mealtimes, but he still didn't finish his teatime snack, nor ask for 2nd servings during lunch.

Anyway, yesterday I brought him to eat sushi at the IshiMura Japanese foodcourt in Safra Jurong after I fetched him from school. And apparently he enjoyed the experience, cos today 1st thing he said upon leaving the childcare centre was "sushi!".

So I have no choice but to keep the swiss roll his grandparents bought for him, and the hot dog puff I got for him, and catch up with the little fellow outside the restaurant, where he was waiting for me after a joyous run down the slight slope.

So here's the clip of Sam enjoying the sushi all by himself:

And yes, he finished the whole plate of 6 pcs of crabstick sushi by 5:30pm. Then it was followed by a packet of his fav "Ding Dang" yogurt drink.

I wonder how many more days of sushi would it take before the novelty wears off......

Plasters, Band-aids, whatever

2009-06-13T15:43:00.001+08:00

Today saw another advert for cute cartoony plasters. Everytime I see one of these ads, or see the actual product on the shelves, I can't help but pause & seriously consider buying a box.

But I dare not.

I read somewhere that a mummy would bring such a box on long plane journeys to entertain her young children. How I wish I have the courage to try this trick.

Reason????

Cos Sam already loves plasters. The plain brown ones, the tranparent waterproof ones, he actually enjoys having one stuck on his little body.

Whenever he has a cut, or had scratched a mosquitoe bite till the skin broke, I would put a plaster over the wound, changing it daily.

And Sam would always eagerly stick out his arm or leg or whichever part that requires the attention, pointing out the wound, telling me to be careful. He would try to help remove the packaging from the plaster itself, ask to stick on the plaster (which I don't allow of course), and happily help throw away the resulting rubbish.

On the day I proclaim the wound healed and the services of the plaster not required further, Sam would cry & lament & kick up a fuss, insisting a new plaster be placed. I sometimes find it more traumatic to stop putting the plaster than dealing with the wound!!!!

Hence I definitely do not dare buy the cute & fanciful plasters that tug at my heart. It is difficult enough resisting Sam's attraction to the plain drabby ones already!

Sam's Preferred Sticker Locations

2009-06-12T17:02:00.003+08:00

As Sam is homebound for so many days, desparate-to-try-to-teach Mummy, ie. me, tried to get Sam to do some craftwork, so that he would be spending all day watching TV.

Since Sunday is Father's Day, I thought it would be simple for him to make a card for hubby, using the craft kit from last month's Charlie & Lola magazine. (Yes, I'm crazy enough to buy that even though it's still a tad too complicated for Sam.)

It's supposed to be an easy project: choose a picture, choose a coloured card, stick the picture on the card, decorate with stickers, and volia! A handmade card!

Well, Sam chose to stick 2 pictures of bottles on a blue card. He managed the glue stick well enough with my help (at least nothing got onto the table), and stuck the pictures securely enough on the card.

The stickers, 20 3D jewels sparkling on a small card, were then removed one-by-one by Sam. At first he stuck each sticker in a line on the card. Then he began to be more interested in removing the stickers from its base, not caring which part of the card his flick of the finger landed the sticker on.

Halfway through the 20 stickers, he began sticking them on his cheeks. Then his feet. Soon he removed the stickers from the card & stuck them on his hands.

Now his card has only 2 stickers on them, which I managed to rescue while Sam was distracted when busy fixing the not-so-sticky-by-now stickers on his body.

I wonder what hubby would say about the pathetic looking card????

Blog Diary 2008 Update

2009-06-10T10:36:00.001+08:00

24 December 08
Moved all "Drama Mama" & "Music to My Ears" posts to The Drama Mama Diaries blog.

23 November 08
Added Feedburner subscriptions options.

13 September 08
Renamed "Blog Archive" as "Previous Posts".
Added new gadget "Followers".

29 August 08
Removed clock.
Added Recent Comments widget.

27 August 08
Removed Facebook badge.
Adding list of links to my Facebook photo albums.

Stuck at Home. Again!

2009-06-10T10:03:00.002+08:00

Sigh!!! After a mere one week in childcare, Sam has been ordered to stay at home by his doctor, to make sure his 2-wk long running nose gets a chance to fully recover.

So now I'm also stuck at home with the playful little bugger. :(

There goes my plans to meet friend today. To go shopping tomorrow.

Worse still, I'm also having flu myself. :(

Sigh! Can't wait for Sam to go back to school next week!!!!!!

Sam in Childcare

2009-06-05T10:17:00.003+08:00

Finally have time to blog about Sam in childcare.

Me have spent the 1st 3 days of this week in & near the childcare centre, going back frequently to check on his progress. Today is the 1st day I'm letting Sam spend the whole day there, from taking the school bus there in the morning, till abt 5 pm later.

Actually I also dunno why I'm so worried. Guess it was because of the not-so-good experiences in the past.

Cos turns out that Sam LOVES the new place. In particularly the toys.

He may leave me crying, but it takes a lot of persuasion to get him to agree to go home in the last 2 days, when I went to fetch him at 5pm.

Here's a video to share, of Sam playing with his fav toy, the tricycle, on the very 1st day of school on Monday. He spent >1hr on the tricycle, refusing the enticement of other toys.

I guess I'm lucky that Sam took to the teachers there well too. I was rather surprised, & very pleased, that he allowed the teachers to bathe & feed him, and also put him to nap. So now I'm not really worried about his time in the childcare centre.

Well, now only worrying about how much he's eating there, cos he seems to want to spend all his time playing & is being so picky about his food.

Still, at this rate, I may remain hopeful about him going to school in the morning in a willing & happy mood very soon, instead of the teary farewells I've come to dread.

Starting Full Day Childcare Tomorrow

2009-05-31T18:19:00.003+08:00

In a dramatic turn of events, I received a phone call in the middle of our shoe-shopping, informing me that the childcare centre has finally received their permit & hence can start operations tomorrow.

So instead of spending my time planning my week ahead, I ended up spending my afternoon putting Sam's school bag together. And since Sam loves to peel off stickers, I crazily stuck stickers ALL over his bag, plastic bags, toothbrush, mug etc.

Hubby commented it was lucky we've just found a new pair of shoes for Sam this morning, JIT for his school. Truely, it's almost a miracle Sam was in a shoe-buying mood, and a covered-toe version to boot. Oh, it's a bit irritating that his version of Crocs actually costs more than mine, but well, I was gratified he could actually put it on & off all by himself, and seems to enjoy wearing it so much. Hubby was simply pleased he doesn't have to see a 4th incarnation of the Clarks sandals Sam was so fond of.

Now, I'm trying to rest & relax as much as it's motherly possible with Sam in the house, cos the next few days are gonna be tough. For me! Already I'm trying to imagine how it's possible for me to go off for a decent lunch...........

One Week of School Holidays to Bear

2009-05-29T14:44:00.002+08:00

Sigh!!! Just as I was starting to panic about not being able to find the spare pillow for Sam's childcare nap next week, I received one of my worst phone calls of the month: the centre is not ready to start next Monday as planned!!!!!!

Now I'll have one week of childcare-centre-less time to spend with Sam. To entertain him, hopefully teaching him something useful in the meantime & not just that shopping is fun.

Urgh!!!!! And to think that I've rejected an assignment last month in anticipation of next week's Sam-entering-new-school-ruckus!!!!! What a waste of my chance!!!!!

Let's see..........a visit to the library, & then artwork painting. That ought to do the trick for 1 of the 5 weekdays.

Now what should I do for the other 4??????????????

Dunno if I have the energy to bring Sam to the Birdpark on my own........the water playground would be fun for him, provided he doesn't get sunburnt.

Haa! Might as well bring Sam to see the doctor if his nose is still running next week! That's keep him occupied for another morning!

What else......................Help!!!!!!!!!

Sam's Registration Photo

2009-05-21T15:21:00.002+08:00

Tada!!!! My handsome Sam posing especially for his registration photo in his new childcare centre. Isn't he lovely?? ;)

The Kind of Things U Get in a Birthday Goodie Bag

2009-05-19T15:31:00.002+08:00

I know all the enthusiatics mothers who took the trouble to prepare gift packs for their children's classmates in school meant well. But why can't they just include more healthy snacks & less junk?????

Today Sam received yet another elaborately decorated birthday goodie bag from a fellow classmate in his playgroup. Except for the box of Coco Crunch, which is at least a healthy cereal despite of the chocolate intensiveness, there's also a marshmellow sweet, a TimeOut chocolate bar & some savoury biscuits. And a whistle.

Now, I'll rather have more of those party whistles & toys than figure out how to hide the TimeOut chocolate bar from my son, cos I don't usually allow him such titbits. I'm still trying to find a way to get rid of the packet of Twisties from another goodie bag 3 weeks ago. Think I'll just eat that myself & get hubby to devour the TimeOut. The marshmellow sweet I'm reserving to use as a rewarding treat when Sam behaves well.

Don't understand why Singaporean parents tend to give such titbits in the goodies bags. When we were in KL, the expat group of mothers tend to put more party toys in the bags. The snacks they used were healthier too. Sam once received a packet of orange juice even!

Can't wait for Sam to start in the new childcare. At least over there, the centre has guidelines & recommendations for parents to use healthy snacks eg. raisins in the goodie bags.

Sam's New School

2009-05-16T22:14:00.000+08:00

Today went to visit Sam's future childcare centre: The Little Skoolhouse By-The-Treehouse at Safra Jurong. It seems great! They can go to the water playground & the indoor playground once a week, and there's actually a courtyard for them to play ball games & ride the tricycles!

Now hoping very hard Sam would take well to the new whole-day curriculum. He seemed to like the new place when we went today, especialy after he saw the tricycles. ;) 1st June, can't wait for it to arrive!

1st Visit to the Zoo

2009-04-20T22:38:00.001+08:00

Yesterday finally managed to get into the Zoo. Had planned for the trip on Good Friday, only to find the carpark already full & roadside parking all the way down to the Orchid Garden at 10:50am.

So was rather glad it wasn't so crowded on a 'normal' Sunday at 9:50am (yes, we made the effort to go earlier this time round). Sam still refused to put on sunblock, but after the distastrous Birdpark experience I covered him in the white cream despite all his protests and cries. And am I glad I did!!!! Look how red he was that night after a mere 3 hrs in the Zoo! (and half that time in the shade too!)
Fortunately most of the red-ness faded this morning. Now, only the area around his neck is still itchy from the sunburn.

Talking about the trip to the Zoo, Sam's reactions to it really burns me up! Oh, he did seem to enjoy seeing the hippos & the otters & one crocodile sleeping in the water. But while I was excited we managed to catch the feeding of the mousedeer etc at the Rainforest, Sam was actually frightened by the sight of feeding gibbons. Goodness knows why??

And when hubby excitedly pointed out the white tigers to the little bugger, he found the exhibit of the tiger sounds more interesting than the sleeping big cats. Okay, to be fair, it would really be more fun pressing the buttons to hear the tiger's roar than to watch them sleep............

But not to be interested in the Elephants of Asia show????? The animal show is only 30 min, we had a clear view of the magnificent beasts, and Sam spent the 1st 15 min snacking & drinking (ok, so he was hungry). Then, hunger satisfied, he started sucking his thumb and cuddling up to me, and after another 5 min, told me: "Mummy, no zoo, go 'gai gai'!"

I nearly went up in smoke!!!! He rather go shopping than visit the zoo!!!! What more can I do???????

Getting Sam to Drink Water

2009-04-17T15:41:00.003+08:00

Sam hasn't been drinking water during his playgroup since last week. He may have finished his biscuits, but his water bottle would remain full when I fetched him from 'school' 2 hours later. Bugging him about it only got him to take small sips.

So yesterday I went on a shopping spree in NTUC Xtra (yes, I know, of all places, but that's the only place open in Jurong Point at 9:45am in the morning) and bought 3 new bottles: a 250ml Rubbermaid, one tall Bob the Builder with shoulder strap, and a very tall bottle with racing cars pictures.

Well, Sam didn't touch his biscuits today, but he finished the whole bottle of Rubbermaid! Talk about the appeal of a new item!!!

So now I'm keeping his Pigeon bottle for home use. Plan to use the small Rubbermaid one for his playgroup. The Bob the Builder one for when my mum fetches him after school, so that there'll be extra water for the journey to his grandmother's place. And the ultra tall racing car version for weekends when we go out, then won't have to worry about running out of water.

Hopefully this will be enough to keep his interest in drinking water...........

Teaching Good Friday

2009-04-03T13:01:00.002+08:00

Once in a while I'll get into those crazy highly enthusiastic mothering moods that die down as quickly as it came. 2 weeks ago I bought 2 different toys - a 10-piece jigsaw puzzle & a counting puzzle - for Sam in an attempt to improve Sam's concentration & reduce his TV time. Needless to say, I gave up after 2 days and I myself went back to doing my own stuff while he watches TV quietly.

Today was buying Polar curry puffs for hubby when the salesgirl started her sales talk for their cross buns: "very nice, only made for this festive season!". I ended up buying one @ $1.20, thinking no harm letting Sam (& myself) try something new.

By the time I reached home, I'm contemplating how to introduce the Good Friday & Easter holiday to Sam. After all, he's already participated in the Chinese New Year & Deepavali celebrations in the school when we were in KL. Since the current playgroup doesn't do such activities, I thought: why not do it myself?

There comes the problem: I'm no good in teaching kids. Least of all my own son. And I know nuts about Good Friday. And Easter.

Just now I actually went to Wiki up Good Friday, hot cross buns, and Easter. After all the reading, I can only conclude: since we ourselves are not Christians and don't celebrate these holidays usually, I'll just leave it as that.

The most I think I can manage is teaching Sam to eat hot cross buns on Good Friday and chocolate Easter eggs on Easter Sunday. Not exactly the right thing to do, I know, but then I'm not expecting much from my yet-to-be three year old either. I mean, I haven't even yet figure out how to explain a 'holiday' to him, you know what I mean????

Sam Sick Again

2009-03-19T13:55:00.002+08:00

Me quite fed up, Sam fell sick again!

Think this time hubby passed the germs to Sam: he got the flu last week, and Sam started having phlegm on Monday. Tuesday night he was coughing through the night, so I brought him to the doctor on Wednesday morning.

Dr Ong said to monitor Sam's temperature, cos a lot of kids recently developed chest infection. That got me worried, so followed doctor's advice to a tee - plenty of rest, no trips to the playground, plenty of water, no citrus fruits, etc etc.

Already had to forgo the planned trip to the Science Centre with my sister & her daughter on Wednesday cos of the doctor's visit. Had thought if Sam's illness was not serious, could go the next day. Instead, now I can't even bring him to Jurong Point for the Thomas & Friends show on Friday as planned.

Sigh! And now, me also stuck at home because of him. :(

A Toilet Training Attempt

2009-03-16T23:22:00.003+08:00

Today had the sudden brainwave of letting Sam trying wearing underwear instead of diapers. Thought he would understand the need to go toilet to pee better when he's not wearing diapers.

Well, what happened was, he enjoyed wearing his underwear - hand-me-downs from his cousin, Thomas & Friends print - but he didn't quite get the concept of having to inform me to go to toilet!

1st time he peed onto the floor, he was quite surprised, and a trifle scared. I guess he was afraid I would scold him. But then I didn't, explained the process to him again, then, let him try another underwear again.

1 hour later, during dinner, he started to position himself funnily in his Ikea chair, ramping himself all the way to the front. Yes, he's trying to stop himself peeing! So after cleaning up the mess I gave up and put diapers on him again.

Half hour before bedtime, he informed his grandfather he poo-poo. We rushed to the bedroom, plastic bag, wipes & diaper all in tow, only to find he's only peed in the diaper. Luckily I had the sense to ask him:"Sam wants to poo-poo huh?"

He said Yes! So a quick rush to put his training seat on the toilet bowl, plonked him on, promised him plenty of toilet paper to throw into the bowl should he succeed, and 2 min later, he did poo-poo into the toilet bowl!!!!

Ooooooh! was soooo glad he did, cos it was such a smelly affair!!! ;) Hope Sam would learn to do his 'big' business in the toilet bowl regularly, then I wouldn't have to clean him up!!!

School Holiday Planning

2009-03-07T13:37:00.002+08:00

Sam has gotten to the stage where I've now joined the group of mothers worldwide on planning how to entertain our children during their school holidays!!!!!!

Yes! Sam's playgroup follows the schooling calendar, which means in one week's time, I'll be having Sam at home for a whole week! Oh, can't wait for him to get into the childcare centre so that I won't have this problem!!!

Anyway, now already on the lookout of all the different possibilities to keep him entertained & keeping myself sane. Already planning to meet friend on Monday, now thinking where's the best place to go.

Tuesday got training, so that'll be a day off for me.

Friday thinking of bringing Sam to see the Thomas & Friends show at Jurong Point. Now only wondering if I should try to get him for the 1pm or the 4 pm show. Both timings are very bad since they coincide with Sam's naptime.

Wed or Thurs I'm thinking of brining Sam to the Science Centre. It seems to be one of the few places where there'll be exhibits suitable for Sam to play & learn at the same time.

Or maybe can bring Sam to the Jurong Birdpark to play in the water playground. Now that hubby bought the 3-park membership, it won't be a heartache to go to the Birdpark for just a few hours.

Just remembered - 14 & 15 March supposed to have open house of Supreme Court. Must check that out if possible: I've never been inside the court before!

Important reminder to self: don't bring Sam out every single day, else he'll have a hard time adjusting back to school schedule again!!!

Very Naughty Sam

2009-03-02T12:53:00.002+08:00

Very very very angry with Sam: he's bullied another classmate in school today!

This time, he went after an older boy - took his biscuits, hit him, bit him, and when the teacher punished him to sit in a corner, he still went and took a 2nd bite on the boy when the teacher's back was turned!!!!

And when the teacher told me about this and I glared at Sam, he still had the cheek to pretend to cry!!!!! He was all red-eyed & tears dropping on the floor with his head bowed, but the moment I told him to stop crying he stopped!!!!!

I was so angry I didn't carry him as usual, and walked him all the way to the bus interchange instead, scolding him all the way.

Was still angry when giving him the shower. Was still angry giving him his lunch, so much so my in-laws are the ones feeding him now to make sure he's fully fed. I'm in the mood to just let him sit in his high chair and eat as much as he wants, and if he gets hungry later that's his bloody problem!!!

A Rainbow

2009-02-25T23:05:00.001+08:00

A rainbow contrasting the still-grey sky after an afternoon of rain.

1st instinct upon seeing this from our study room window: take out handphone and snap a pic.

2nd instinct: call Sam to come & see this. And surprisingly today he came running at my 1st call (if only he's so 乖 everytime!) and was thus held up high to see the rainbow.

He seemed more puzzled than excited at the sight. But at least he caught a view of the phenomenon........

Apparently there's a 2nd rainbow above this one, just faintly visible in my photo. I only knew about the 2nd one after reading someone else's blog........

Free Visit to Peranakan Musuem

2009-02-21T16:08:00.003+08:00

Went all the way to Clarke Quay today only to find the free 2009 tickets for the Singapore Bumboat rides had been given out already. So made our way to the Peranakan Museum instead, which was given free admission this weekend (21 & 22 Feb 09), thus saving us $8/adult.

Most importantly, are the activities available for children, including free clay modeling, stencil-making & Chinese calligraphy, and also featuring Chinese Orchestra performances and cooking demonstrations! I expected the activities to be targeted at older children (I was right, designed for ages 5 ~ 10 yrs), but thought Sam may be able to handle the clay modelling, since it would be similar to the Play-doh he enjoys, then I'll have a chance to catch the "Serenity in Stone: The Qingzhou Discovery" exhibition.

The Old Tao-Nan School campus seem flooded by people today, partly because it's so small, I think. The children activities were hosted in the Lecture Room on the ground floor. Sam was way too young for the stencilling, but fortunately for me, the clay modelling was done on Ikea tables & chairs, just the right size for Sam. So hubby & I took turns to visit the exhibits, while the other watched over Sam.

Sam is really too young to make full use of the materials to make the intended lotus flower on the cardboard, which can then be placed in the provided photo frame. He also poured glue into the tealight, which was meant for sticking the clay petals around to form a tealight holder. But he made his clay balls & generally got occupied, so that was enough for me. ;)

The exhibits of Serenity in Stone are mightily impressive. It's amazing how the colours on the stone sculptures got preserved all these years, all the way from the 6th century!! True, as hubby commented, the similar-looking Buddha statues bored us non-artists after 2 full rooms of exhibits, but I still find it interesting to note the different art styles used in the 2 different periods the sculptures were made.

I made a quick dash through the Peranakan wedding exhibition rooms on the 2nd level, and found several stations designed for children (about Primary school level, I guess. There's an area designed for school programs) to participate in, including embossing Peranakan designs on a specially designed paper provided at the ticket counter. The lady there kindly provided one for me upon inquiry, but the colouring picture on the other side of the paper is way too advanced for young Sam, esp. since he seemed to have inherited my lousy artisitic talents, or rather, non-talents.

Sam hadn't torn down the roof when I returned 20 min later, but he's pooped! Fortunately there's a diaper changing fold-down station in the toilet for the disabled on the ground floor.

Meanwhile hubby had found out the Asian Civilisations Museum would be hosting a new exhibition from mid-March, featuring artefacts from Emperor Kang Xi's period. So now he's looking forward to our next visit to that museum, while I'm praying the ACM would be a more toddler-friendly museum than the National History Museum. Perhaps if I'm lucky, the ACM would be holding some kind of open-house next month too................

New Measures at Playschool

2009-02-17T10:09:00.002+08:00

Took nearly 10min to get Sam into the playschool today, and he was only the 5th in queue. All because of the new measures the playgroup adopted against outbreak of Hand, Foot & Mouth Disease.

Apparently there's been an outbreak of such cases in the area recently, and the principal of Talent Plus group came to inspect the branch here yesterday, and was astonished our branch washed the toddlers' hands with water instead of the anti-bacterial lotion used in other branches.

So today all parents were not allowed into the main room of the RC. Each child was supposed to be seated just inside the entrance of the doorway, where the teacher would inspect the mouth, hands & feet of the toddler with gloved hands, before squirting some anti-bacterial lotion on the hands for cleaning purposes.

Well, after 1.5 mths of the old routine parents/grandparents/maids accompanying the toddlers all the way into the small classroom & taking their shoes off & washing their hands, most of the toddlers were appalled at having someone else trying to do it for them. The 3rd girl in the queue started crying & refused to sit down on the chair for inspection, clinging on to her grandfather. That started the rest of the children in the queue, including my Sam, crying too.

The assistant teacher resorted to letting the adults into the doorway of the main room to help take of the children's shoes, and the poor teacher had to peer into the screaming toddlers' mouth for the inspection, raising the soles of feet dangling in the air while hands were tightly clasped around the parents' necks.

Really, starting a new routine at this time is like starting a new school term all over again. Good luck to the teachers! And I'm expecting an unsettled Sam over the next few days to school again........

How to Enjoy The National Museum with a Toddler

2009-02-16T16:05:00.002+08:00

Don't bring the toddler along!!!

No, seriously, there was no way I could enjoy the exhibits in the Singapore National Museum properly with 2-year-9-month-old Sam turning the whole place into his own personal playground.

About the only time I had him under my control was when we were descending the stairs, hand in hand. The other times, he was running around the Film & Wayang exhibition room, touching every exhibit he could get his hands on & sending shrills of terror down my spine. The swinging pendulum art installation only held his attention for several minutes.

In the Singapore History Archives, I couldn't concentrate on my own audio guide, not when Sam was running ahead in the dark room, and then running back demanding to be brought out to the light where it was more interesting. I only made it as far as Raffles discovering Singapore before I gave up & left the room.

Hubby & in-laws all agreed the museum was worth the trip, esp. since we got in free, thanks to the 2009 sms initiative by the Tourism Board. And thank goodness I didn't have to pay for the ticket, cos it was a total waste of my time trying to entertain Sam in the big, empty, building (hubby was right - the Museum was about the only tourist attraction left of the 5 that would still have free tickets on Sunday).

After a mere half hour in the Museum, I gave up & brought Sam outside to the museum grounds, in a desparate attempt to keep him entertained & perhaps see the art installations outside. Well, it turned out to be a hot & sunny noon, I found only the "Seeds" installation after touring half the grounds, and Sam was entertained not by the garden/grass/flowers, but by the water cooler at the bottom of the escalator leading up to Fort Canning.

We must have spent nearly 10 min out there in the heat, while I drank water, then Sam pressed the button for me to drink water, I pressed for Sam to drink water, then Sam pressed for me to drink water, and so on and so on and so on.

I've never found a 45 min visit to a Museum so physically tiring! The Singapore National Museum is definitely not a place to bring toddlers!!!!!

Sam Learning in School

2009-02-14T23:30:00.002+08:00

Sam's been attending the playgroup for about 1 month now, and today I realised how much that had affected him:

For one thing, when we were out today, he started going for the girls of his same age group. ;)
In the past, he usually went after the older girls, all the big 'jie-jie'. But today, the little girl he approached at Changi Beach & the little gal he was actively trying to engage in play (unfortunately for him, the gal was actively eating satay) were barely taller than him.
So I guess he must have gotten used to playing with people of similar ages in the playgroup.

He's also obviously learnt something in school, even though he always replies 'no, no, no' whenever I asked him what he did in school. During our dinner in Newton Circus just now, he started clapping his hands when he heard a song being played. Then, he asked us to clap too! I felt rather silly clapping to the music in the hawker centre. ;P

And tonight, he actually said the word "teacher", and demonstrated to me how the teacher blew bubbles in school!

Wow! Am I glad I took the trouble to send him to the 2-hr playgroup! Can't wait for him to get into the childcare centre and learn independance!!!!!!

My New Job

2009-02-03T23:40:00.002+08:00

Just realised I haven't blogged about my new job yet, so here it is:

Me got a part-time job as Tour Faciliator with this company Singapore History Consultants. It's like a tour guide, only I'm not licensed so can only take on groups for Singaporeans. Right now training for a Military Defence tour, to introduce Singapore's WWII history to our NS men. Next 2 months will continue to be trained for other tour, including a Kampong Glam tour to introduce our school children to the rich Malay culture. Read the company's website to understand more.......

Me rather excited about this job. A lot of training involved at this stage, but at least I find the job meaningful, and it's gratifying to know the company is putting in so much effort to train us: 4 days/2 weeks, trained personally by our big boss himself, the 2nd in command, & the head of research no less.

So even I myself am surprised at the readiness at which I dwell into WWII history, which wasn't one of my favourite topics in schooling days. But now I find a point to the stories, and a reason to relate them in these peace times, so I guess I got myself a suitable job in that sense. ;)

Oh, if you have any foreign friends visiting S'pore, you may want them to check out our island in a totally different perspective, thro' historical & cultural walks by our sister company, Journeys. ;)

P.S. In case anyone asking, I have to sign a 2 yr bond with the company, and I'm paid in cash only, no CPF or any medical benefits.

Sam the Biter

2009-01-30T21:37:00.002+08:00

Sam went back to school after a 2.5 week long break. Today brought in-laws when sending him to the playgroup, since next week they'll have to send Sam when I go to work.

As we leave Sam started crying, as expected. Actually, I had thought the teacher would have to pry him from my shoulders, but surprisingly Sam understood he's supposed to go to school, he just didn't want to. Hence he cried all the way when he got down from my arms and walked into the classroom himself, by which time I've left hurriedly since the crying really got to me.

So when I went to fetch Sam 2 hrs later, I was half expecting the teacher to tell me Sam's cried for 2 hrs non-stop.

Instead, I got my 1st complaint: Sam had bitten another classmate in school!!!!!

Apparently, he was playing amiciably with another girl in class. Next moment the teacher knew, the poor girl was crying loudly, as Sam had bitten her on the stomach! Apparently the teeth marks were painfully clear, & the bitten area was a bit blue-black. So the girl's parents were notified who rushed her to the doctor before the end of class.

So now I'm kinda dreading sending Sam to school tomorrow. Possibly the parents of the poor girl would ask us to pay for the doctor's bill (I have no doubt the injury was not serious, since hubby got several such bites), and I'll have to apologise profusely, all the time knowing that while we've repeatedly told Sam not to bite - for fun or in anger - there's no way I can actually control his behaviour in school.

Sam will probably be on the teacher's black list from now on.........well, I suppose the extra attention would do him no harm......... ;P

Sam' Animal Impersonation

2009-01-27T00:06:00.002+08:00

I don't know where Sam learnt to do this, but I watch with glee as he pretends to be a frog, a dog, a tortoise & a cat in turn, complete with barks & meows, specially for the camera-phone:

After this recording, then Sam show his latest impersonation - a rabbit! Must try to capture that on video some day........

Sam Still Sick

2009-01-19T15:23:00.002+08:00

Brought Sam to the paediatrician again this morning, cos his fever is still recurring (every 12 hrs on average), his nose is still running (greenish mucus now), and he's still coughing to clear the phlegm in his throat. Dr Ong prescribed a whole new batch of medicine plus antibiotics, since Sam's already been down for a week already. Hopefully he'll get better by CNY..........

This means Sam can't go to playgroup this week! And I'll be stuck at home too!!!!!!! Urgh!!!!!!

But hee, since I don't have the number to Sam's playgroup yet, I'm planning to drop over (without Sam, of course) tomorrow to inform the teachers of Sam's condition. Hopefully I'll have a bit of time to shop for 2 more tops for CNY & a new pencil case for my new job.

Yes, I've got a job! It's a part time job, as a 'tour faciliator'. Basically, it's like being a tour guide, but only to upper primary & lower secondary school students, introducing them to cultural & historical tours. This Thurs will be starting my 1st training........a lot of training to be done before can conduct the tours. Thank goodness Mummy can help me out!!!!!

Looking forward to this Thurs, already gotten my file & paper & bag ready, the 1st 2 batches of training on WWII, not my fav, but can't wait for the sculpture tours in March & April........

Now Sam can't go to school, it's a real pain in the neck, hopefully Mummy can handle him & all the medicine feeding..........

Recent Update

2009-01-12T23:42:00.002+08:00

Haven't blogged for ages......had been a rather terrible start to the year 2009.

Brought our 1st maid home on the 2nd. Now she still can't speak much English, me communicating by sign language & my English-Indonesian dictionary. Luckily MIL trained her quite well, so now I only have to think of how to occupy her afternoons in my MIL's absence.

I kena stomach flu on the 4th. Threw up all the hot chocolate from Max & diaherra some more. Now have stopped medication, but my digestive system still delicate, can only finish half a bowl of rice at dinner now, eating noodles makes me feel bloated, so still avoiding all things with milk, oily food, sour & spicy food too. And I only lost a little weight!!!!

Had to go for a job interview on the 5th after a purely liquid diet on the 4th. Survived the morning on a continuous flow of sweets!

Then, still weak, had to bring Sam for his 1st day at playgroup on the 6th. We parents had to leave our crying children in the hands of the teachers for an hr from the 7th onwards. Sam seemed to have adjusted well, by Fri he was greeting me with smiles even though he left me crying.

Only to find him starting running nose that very night. By Sat night he had fever, by Sun morn he burned up to 39 degC. Couldn't manage to get an appointment with his regular pediatrician over the weekend, and ended up making 3 trips to our family doctor, one of which was wasted cos the morning registration was full already!

Now hoping Sam's fever will stay down over the night, then tomorrow I only have to worry about the phlegm that seemed to have settled in his throat causing him to cough...............

Drying Monster

2008-12-27T21:20:00.002+08:00

Somehow, Sam has never stand/sit still sedately & let me dry him off after his shower. Except for the times when I've given him a big scolding of course! Usually, I end up having to chase him around on our queen size bed, torn between wanting to just give up & let him play around naked till he's consented to the clothes & diapers, and worrying about him catching a cold with his still-wet hair (esp. with Mummy's & MIL's warnings in my ears).

So had invented a few games to keep Sam happy & gives me the chance to dry him off, fun style. Well, it doesn't help with getting the clothes on yet, but at least he'll be properly dry.........

This time, I'm the "Drying Monster", chasing Sam with the big towel while he squeals in laughter & run around letting me chase him - ya, if I don't chase him he'll go "come, come"! I'll mention each body part I'm drying, and Sam will try to cover those areas with his little hands, and yes, squealing in laughter as he's doing so.

Wonder how long he'll find this game fun before he loses interest again............

My Fav 2008 Christmas Trees

2008-12-25T23:15:00.002+08:00

This year haven't seen much large X'mas trees in the shopping malls, partly cos not convenient to bring Sam to go shopping in town, partly cos a lot shopping malls scaled down the X'mas deco due to the economic downturn.

So just have 3 trees that I like this year:

Left: Elf in tree, Ground floor of VivoCity. I went past this one on 2 separate occasions, both times viewing it from the 2nd level only, didn't have chance to go see it face-to-face!

Centre: the soft toy tree in Suntec Convention Centre, in aid of charity.

Right: am so glad Takashimaya Shopping Centre have their usual tree, this year with my fav gold & red colour combo! This year, they used solar panels to power LED lighting on the tree, thus reducing plenty of electricity usage & helped keeping the earth a little greener.

Sam's 1st 'Painting'

2008-12-23T15:13:00.003+08:00

Decided it's high time to expose Sam to some arts & crafts, since he hasn't attended school for nearly 2 months now. So let him tried the painting at the Creative Art Corner in West Mall, level 2. Chose a helicopter design for him, since there wasn't a car-related one. This small-sized picture costs $5, but the lady-in-charge was very nice.

Initially, my mum insisted I not waste the money, as Sam is 'too young' to paint. But by then Sam was excited about getting his own 'copter', so I thought just to let him try & see how fine his motor skills are.

Surprisingly, Sam allowed the lady-in-charge to hold his hand and guide him on squeezing out the coloured paints and filling up the voids with a toothpick. He refused to let me do the guiding!

10min & 4 colours later, Sam had picked up the concept of squeezing the paint, to the extent we had to keep stopping him from flooding the entire picture with the same colour!

The lady-in-charge helped cleaned up the picture to give a pretty final presentation. After heating in the oven, the paint dried to a rubbery finish:

The helicopter now resides on Sam's bedroom wall, ready to be joined by Sam's future efforts, especially since the chain has promotion: collect 9 stamps (1 for each $5 or $8 picture) and get one $5 picture free. It's just opened a new outlet in the Jurong Point extension, level 3, so now there's somewhere more meaningful to spend Sam's time instead of just wondering around the shops.

The chain's 3rd outlet is in Causeway Point.

Sam Threading Beads

2008-12-23T00:13:00.002+08:00

I had been a bit worried about Sam's fine motor skills. So today bought him a box of wooden numerical bead for him to play with. After about 10 min of trying & demonstration, he could thread a whole string of beads all by himself:

His choice of colours a trifle funny: he went for the black zeros 1st (I guess they resemble his fav wheels), then the light green number 8s. The reds & oranges lay untouched........

Perhaps I should have just splurged & gotten the $20 branded box of animal beads in Toy 'R' Us, instead of this $13 Made-in-China box that I'm still wondering if the paint is toxic-free. Then perhaps the zeros & eights will have their holes in the centre, and the holes for threading would be smooth, & won't keep snagging on the shoe strings that came with the box. But then, after Sam mastered the skill of threading he'll probably lose interest in the new toy, so..........

Sam showing off his masterpieces:

I'm not an imaginative person.......wearing the threaded beads like a belt, around the neck like a necklace & carrying them around like a bag are about the only uses I can think of for the finished strings of beads. Dunno how long Sam will find that entertaining...............

2-Word & 3-Word Phrases Now....

2008-12-22T00:24:00.002+08:00

Sam has finally begun to speak 2-word English phrases (2 words spoken rather accurately & naturally one after the other, and not having unwanted pauses in between). It's rather exasperating to find out that despite all our efforts to encourage him to say things like "Open please", he picks up phrases like "taxi stand" & "car park" almost immediately after I speak those phrases to him in passing! What is it about cars that keeps so much of his attention?????

His 1st 3-word phrase???

"la la tang" - in Mandarin, meaning: spicy sweets.

It came out when we were going home in our car. I suppose he was trying to tell us what he wants to eat, but I have absolutely no idea what his "la la tang" is. Who on earth would give a child spicy sweets?????

I'm still wondering what was it that he wanted to eat.............

Wonderful Neighbourhood Hair Salon for Kids!

2008-12-12T17:09:00.002+08:00

My mum suggested I try this hair salon near her place after she heard about my disastrous attempt to cut Sam's hair at the one near mine. I was very doubtful initially about her recommendations (based on years of experience), but this time, I'm so glad I took her advice!

The hair salon in question looked just like any old small salon in a neighbourhood centre, but it's filled with toys to entertain its young customers - cars, dolls, electronic moving & singing mobiles etc. The owner even has a containerful of lollipops to coax children with!

And the 2 hairdressers are obviously experienced with dealing with children. They are deft & quick with the haircut, gentle when coaxing the children, and knows when my son has reached his limit and not to insist on the finer points of the hair style.

So for the 1st time in Sam's 2.5 yrs of life, my son actually has a hair style instead of just an all-head shave!

Yes, Sam is still sucking on his lollipop after the haircut!

And it only costs me S$6!!! The hair salon near my place who couldn't even get Sam to wear the plastic cover around the neck wanted to charge me $16!

Thanks a lot, Uncle! I'll definitely be back!

Gg Unisex Hair Salon
Blk 166, Bt Batok West Ave 8, #01-248.

How I Spent My Birthday

2008-12-05T23:47:00.003+08:00

For the benefit of my sis, I've decided to blog how I spent my yesterday:

Got woken up by Sam at abt 7.:45 am as usual.
Ham & cheese sandwich for breakfast. Took me one whole hour to get Sam to eat his.
Sam got me angry overturning all the clothes my MIL was folding on the sofa. Smacked his arm so hard the red mark stayed for half the day.

Brought Sam down to the playground downstairs to play at 10.20am. Kena a class of what looks like K1 or K2 students from the NTUC Childcare centre downstairs. Those children shoved my son, knocked into him on the slide (not on purpose, but no apologies from any of them) and generally didn't seem to know how to treat a younger child at the playground at all. And none of the 3 teachers overseeing them did anything!

So when one of the boys stopped my Sam from crossing the 'bridge' the 3rd time, & even pushed him away, I told him off (and not politely, I must admit). Only then did one of the teachers came over to tell the boy to give way to the "di-di".

After this episode I'm damn glad there's no vacancy for Sam at the NTUC Childcare downstairs!!!! I don't wanna my son to spend so much of his time in a place where they don't seem to teach manners!!!!!!!!

Anyway, after letting Sam play at the playground for abt 20 min, I took him away (I had enough of the children there). He then ran around the void decks for a further 15 min, after which I got him upstairs.

Then I surfed the net for abt 45 min while FIL watched TV with Sam.
Lunch was fried noodles, courtesy of my MIL.
Sam pooped, I showered him, got him to nap at 1.45pm.

Only managed to watch half of the Taiwanese variety show 王牌大贱谍 guest starring my fav singer 周华建 (promoting his concert. Thanks to Sam I'm in no position to go), before Sam woke up from his nap at 3:30pm.

Fed Sam, kept him entertained from in-laws watched the dunno-which-hundredth episode of 意难忘.
Ikea delivery & assembly of our bookcase, so thereafter started re-packing some of Sam's cars into the new plastic containers, easier for Sam to take & keep his own toys.

Showered. Tried new pumice scrub & foot rub lotion, a birthday present from MJ.
Dinner of fried rice (courtesy of MIL again).
Watched half hour TV, then started bedtime routine of Sam at 8:30pm.

Hubby came back in the midst of the storytelling.
I nipped off for a piece of choco I asked hubby to help buy (to help ease my bad mood on the 1st day of period) while hubby did the before-bedtime toilet training for Sam. Hubby had 2 boxes of choco, I opened the most convenient one (the unwrapped one), which was Lindt's milk chocolates, which was way too milky for me, so I returned to Sam in an even worse mood.

Got Sam asleep by 9:45pm. Opened the wrapped box of chocolates, hubby's attempt of birthday present amidst his long working hours (even had to take cab home to be in time to see Sam awake) - Lindt's champange truffles. These were good.
After eating 4 of those in succession my bad mood abated somewhat.

Watched last episode of the Taiwanese idol drama 不良笑花 on internet. Will miss the comedy love story between Rainie Yang & Wilbur Pan and the lovely ending theme song (带我走 by 杨丞林). Fortunately, Channel U will be screening it from next Monday at 7pm, so still can watch the trailers on TV.

So that was how I spent my 32nd birthday.

Finally, an End to Breastfeeding!

2008-12-04T11:55:00.002+08:00

After 2.5 yrs, I think I can finally say that I've finally stop breastfeeding Sam! He hasn't asked me for milk for >2 weeks now, even when I'm cuddling him.

Thanks in part to the house moving, and all the shopping in Orchard for the past month, which tired Sam out sufficiently for him to nap by himself in the afternoons without me holding him in my arms, now I can finally try to find time to go myself some new 'normal' bras to fit my fat self.

Yes, none of my old bras from before pregnancy fits now, since I've gotten from M to L size for clothes. ;P Had been using my nursing bras with the help of extension hooks for the past 1.5 yrs in fact!!

So now's the time to buy some new ones while there's the X'mas sale going on...........

Sam's 1st Imaginary Human Adventure

2008-11-26T23:57:00.002+08:00

Sam's imaginary games until now have been solely limited to, what else, CARS. It started with him mimicking our family car's reverse sensor, then he mimicked us locking his Trunki with any key he got his hands on, and recently his Madagascar figurines stomping on & around his toy cars (I introduced him to that).

So I was both relieved & amused yesterday morning to find him acting out a new drama with only his ELC fireman:

Fireman figurine moving quickly along the sofa.

Sam: "Run."

Fireman tips forward. Sam picks up the figurine, point at it & says to me mournfully: "Pain pain!"

Then, "ban-ditch!" - Sam's way of saying 'bandage'.

So I picked up a torn sticker & gave it to Sam, who then solemnly stuck in on the fireman's arm.

Ha! Sam was re-enacting his episode of falling down while visiting his maternal granny & scraped his knee, causing me to spend the next 2 weeks putting bandages on his knee.

I guess this not only means that my little devil is growing older, it also means he's not forgetting this painful episode in a hurry. ;P

Sam Playing with his Mattress

2008-11-24T23:34:00.003+08:00

Sam playing with his mattress, while we were (still are, by the way) busy trying to tidy up the flat to make it possible for Sam's mattress to fit in.

After 8 days since our sea freight arrived, now our master bedroom is nearly done. Tomorrow need to try to organise Sam's 6 toy boxes, & possibly the bookshelfs in his new bedroom, so that can fit in his mattress, and re-start the long, tedious process of getting Sam used to sleeping in the new room.

Then I'll have to catalog my unwanted VCDs & try to pass them on, and try to sell off our 2 sheepskin rugs, foldable playpen & Quinny pram complete with car seat, all of which are filling the storeroom to the brim. Also need to find a place to keep the baby cot (dunno why hubby wants to keep that).

Nearly forgot: need to sort through our boxes of decorations, including one whole box of souvenirs I bought while training in Japan (box already collected plenty of dust from KL stay). Most probably need to make another trip to Ikea & get a display cabinet (if study room still has space for it) and some shelves to display all our souvenirs from our stay in Europe, including 2nd cuckoo clock, all my Starbucks mugs, numerous drawings, 1 bagful of Hard Rock Cafe pins, my entire music box collection, the Dutch clogs, etc, etc, etc............

Am still thinking how to get the 3 boxes of unwanted items that are too sinful to throw away to the Salvation Army without a car............

Getting tired just thinking about it...............

Complain, Complain, Complain!!!

2008-11-23T15:26:00.003+08:00

Have only been gone from Singapore for 3.5 yrs, and the service level of everything seems to have dropped!!!!!!!

The Singtel 1626 screwed up my simple re-activation of hp line. Luckily the stuff at the Ngee Ann City hello! shop are still helpful & knowledgable, else my 3 trips there over the past 2 weeks would have gotten more white hairs on my head! Just hope their account manager who's supposed to fix the problem really did so when they resume work tomorrow, else I'll have to make a 4th trip there........

No one in Singapore ever mentioned to me that you need to submit my income tax assessment form in order to employ a maid. I mean, we've been overseas for the past 3.5 yrs, how to present direct proof that hubby has been earning > S$30k a year????? The agency even solemnly promised me the initial application will definitely be rejected without the damn assessment form, & if they didn't manage the appeal with all the pay slips, employment letter & such, we would have to appeal to our MP to get the maid! Hell! After all the effort I went through to bring my son back for education in Singapore now I can't employ a maid to help with the housework????

Worst of all is Borneo Motors!!!! 6 yrs ago we got our 1st car from them with absolutely no trouble at all. Now, we've already lowered our expectations to make do with the silver Toyota Wish (hubby had wanted the grey one, but that won't be available till Feb 09) so that we can get the car within this month. Then, the company didn't make the COE bid for us this month, when the price of the COE plunged so much!! The agent said the car shipment won't be in till Dec, so no point getting the COE now anyway! So hubby now lamenting the potential lost of nearly $3k on the COE, while I fret the possibility Borneo Motors failed the next COE bid in Dec, and delay our car delivery!!!

I was so angry to hear the news this morning, I contemplated bringing Sam down to the showroom & let him loose on a rampage on the cars on display, esp. those that are specified "SOLD"!! Car showrooms are often crowded on a Sunday, how about letting Sam play driver on the Toyota Wish in the showroom, so that other potential customers won't get to view the car properly? How would the company like that, huh????? After all, my son didn't get to sit in the family car, so there's nothing wrong with letting him stand on the showroom cars, play with the wiper switches and bang the car doors! ;P Better still if I lament on the poor company service & scare off other customers, then there'll be less competition & I have higher chance to get the car next month, huh??????

Still fuming mad!!!!!!!!!

Sam Driving a Toyota Camry

2008-11-17T23:10:00.002+08:00

We went to the Toyato Showroom today to buy the Toyota Wish. And while hubby is settling all the paperwork, I had to keep Sam occupied, which is basically following him around while he tries out all the cars in the showroom! His fav - the Toyota Camry:

Sam will pretend to drive the car, and would ask me to sit beside him, made sure I closed the door, and even tried to put on the safety belt!

"Gong Gong" Sam

2008-11-07T15:07:00.002+08:00

Sam wearing a pair of his cousin's toy specs.......he seems to enjoy it & kept wanting to put it on even though it's a trifle too small for him!

Guess he thought this makes him more like his Daddy & Mummy.......I just hope he won't have to wear any real glasses when he grows up!

My Fav Christmas Tree

2008-11-07T15:00:00.002+08:00

It's X'mas time again, and this year, I get to see my fav X'mas tree in Ngee Ann City the day it's fully set up! Yeh!!

Always loved the X'mas tree in Ngee Ann City...........so warm & lovely feeling just looking at it. Think it must be a Jap thing - the X'mas trees I saw in Japan were wonderful too.

This year's tree is pink (balls) & white (snowflakes) with twinkling golden lights. Lovely!!! But Sam didn't like it, silly boy! ;P

Things I Regretted Not Doing in KL

2008-10-30T23:10:00.002+08:00

1. Not applying the J-card upon moving to KL
Jusco offers such a good selection of good & cheap children's clothing (eg. RM10 for a set of long-sleeved pyjamas), and its supermarket has such a good range of fresh, reasonably priced fish & vegetables and ready-cooked japanese bento sets, and its bakery is quite acceptable...........

I should have just applied for the discount card without thinking too much, and then I could have enjoyed the shopping there much much more!

Why did it take us such a long time to find the driving route to MidValley???????

2. Not visiting Sunway Petting Zoo
We only got to Sunway last month when my parents visited, and hence only knew about the petting zoo then.

Thought it would be wonderful for Sam to be exposed to all the different animals (not just the usual pets, but also monkeys, snakes etc) in a controlled environment......

But the place is only open at 11 am, too near Sam's nap time, and it's such a hassle to drive there through all the toll gates, hubby wasn't keen to repeat the trip, and there weren't many weekends left for us by that time anyway......

3. Not visiting Petrosains Discovery Centre early enough
Had I known how fun & large the place is, and that it's designed such that you can only follow through the exhibits in the destinated pathway (ie. you can't jump to the last exhibit without passing the 1st), I would have brought Sam along earlier.

As it was, we only had time to cover half the centre in 2 hrs, then we had to leave for lunch & Sam's nap..............and we never got to enjoy the latter half of the discovery centre. :(

A&W for Two

2008-10-30T22:48:00.002+08:00

Yesterday after finally sending off the packers, we had the rare chance of having lunch together, since Sam was still in school. ;)

But with only 20 min for lunch, our 'romantic rendevous' ended up in the fast food opposite our place in KLCC: A&W!

All my old favorites - coney dog, curly fries and root beer (no float, didn't dare afford the extra calories!)

Hee, I even chose to sit at a high table with bar stools, simply because it's some place we never can sit at if Sam was around!

Best Hair Conditioner I've Used

2008-10-30T14:11:00.001+08:00

We've finally packed our sea freight stuff & terminated the telephone & internet service. Now I seem to be getting a hang on our rental Toyota Cambry & while the one-bedroom suite The Ascott Residence is currently a mess cos of all the laundry I just did yesterday night, I cheer myself up looking forward to my evening shower with the lovely L'occitane toiletries provided by the service apartment:

I've thought the Crabtree & Evelyn toiletries in the Pangkor Laut Resort was good, but this L'Occitane set is wonderful!

While it doesn't smell as nice as the C&E Le Source set, the hair conditioner is terrific! I've never had my hair so smooth after the shower! Doesn't matter if I blow dry or let the hair dry naturally, it's still smooth & flowy!

And the shower gel........the smell seems a little strange at first, but it's also strangely refreshing & uplifting. I feel great after using it!

Must get a job back in Singapore so I can earn plenty to buy my own L'occitane toiletries!!!!!

Holiday in The Venetian, Macao.

2008-10-24T16:02:00.003+08:00

Just got back from a 5D4N holiday in Macao, and since we were staying in The Venetian, we spent most of our time there.

Sam loved the gondola boats in the 3 man-made canals distributed around The Grand Canal Shoppes (level 3 of the complex). We took a ride in one on our 1st evening there, while we waited 2 hrs for our non-smoking room to be ready for check-in.

Our boatman was an entertaining fellow, chatting freely with us throughout the 15 min ride. He had a fine voice too: it was fun to hear his Italian song end with a flourish & a bow while we waited for the other gondola to pass us on the narrow Marco Polo canal.

The show at St Mark's Square was a bit of a disappointment. It was hard to see the performers surrounded by throngs of camera-clicking tourists, since half of the performance was done on ground level instead of the 2-step-high mini stage. We did manage a photo with one of the entertainers on another day though.

For such a big complex, there is only one baby room, which I did not have the occasion to use, since we stayed in the hotel upstairs. On hindsight, I should have explored the room - perhaps there's some mini playground in there. As it was, there's no play area to entertain Sam while we tried to shop there.

We managed to buy something from ecco, simply because the sales assistants were nice (& wise) enough to help entertain Sam, so we could try the shoes & handbags to our satisfaction. It must be the 1st time Sam had someone helped him try on as many girls' shoes on display as he wanted!

On hindsight, we really should have taken the advice of a fellow traveller in the TripAdvisor: it was really inconvenient to bring a young child to a casino-affiliated hotel. Though the suite was large & nicely, newly furnished, & there's all the shopping downstairs without having to go out into the blazing hot sun, it was kinda troublesome having to travel along the "family-friendly" route on level 3 before going down to level 1 for the taxis/buses/restaurants, just so to avoid going through the casino.

If I ever travel to Macao again, I'll much rather get a hotel on Macao itself where I can visit the World Heritage sights more conveniently, then spend a day visiting the splendid-looking Venetian.

Lengthy blog of the restaurants in The Venetian here.

Photos of Sam's Hospital Stay

2008-10-15T16:07:00.004+08:00

Just realised hubby had photos of Sam while in hospital late last month:

Left: Sam in his cot bed, next to the messy covers of the hospital bed I slept on.

Right: Sam taking his 15 min nebulizer (to clear his airways) every 4~6 hrs. He was a fairly good boy most of the time, though he prefers me to hold the mask. This photo is taken at the only time I tried to use the elastic band.

Bottom: No, Sam did not injure his hand. A tube was inserted into his right hand when hospitalisation was decided, for ease of blood samples withdrawal (only once at admission) & subsequent antibiotics injection (thrice daily).

The original white bandages got so dirty & torn after 1 day, the stopper to the tube got loose & Sam's blood flowed out of the tube all over his hand & me! The nurse then added the more durable cloth bandage on Day 2.

Big

2008-10-05T10:35:00.004+08:00

It still amazes me how big Sam is getting now.

Not 'big' as in size. 'Big' as in his knowledge of the world around him.

Yesterday he pointed to my mineral water bottle & said "big, big".

I thought: it's a water bottle, what 'big'???!!!! Hurry up & drink your strawberry milk!

Then, Sam pointed at his own straw water bottle next to mine: "small".

Hey, he understands the opposites big & small now!!!!!

Of course, his pronounciation of the word 'small' is inaccurate, just sufficient for me to recognize the word.

But wow! Opposites! And he's not even 2 & a half yrs yet!

No wonder his school starts teaching the alphabet from 30 mths old!!!!

Yet Another Blog

2008-10-02T01:00:00.001+08:00

Dunno why, kept wanting to start new blogs, even though I am barely updating this one!

The latest, "Eating Out With Kids", is mainly a record of the places I've brought Sam to eat.

Had been regretting not taking photos of the beautiful baby chairs Sam's used when we were travelling in Europe, esp. France.

So now am taking photos of the baby chairs & even booster seats Sam is using now. Hopefully this craze of mine will last long. ;)

Anyway, had thought will be more likely to continue this record of child-friendly eating places than my current Musing blog after we move back to Singapore...........

{Oh, by the way, we'll be moving back to Singapore on 1 Nov! Hubby received the notification a few days ago just when Sam was sick, so forgot to inform everyone.....}

Anyway, one good thing about starting the Eating Out blog is, now I'm more sensitive when choosing seats in a restaurant: not only checking out size of table & position of aircon, now I'm also noticing the restaurant's deco more, in the hope of finding something in the surroundings to entertain Sam during the meal.

Ha! Can't imagine the future blog post when bringing Sam to eat in the hawker centres back in Singapore!!!!!!!!

Hospital Stay is Finally Over!

2008-10-01T10:02:00.002+08:00

Last few days had been hell...............

Sam's mucus turned green last Tues evening, but doc not open on Wed, so only brought him in on Thurs.

At that time, he only had low fever, ~ 37.5 degC, so he went home with a big bag of medicine (again).

That very evening, his fever went up to 38 degC. By Fri noon, it was 39 degC. So I started the antibiotics that very evening.

But his fever never went down past 38.5 degC. By Sat afternoon, it hit 40 degC. So I dragged hubby & Sam off to the A&E at Gleneagles Intan, hoping for something to bring down the fever.

Turns out the X-ray shows Sam's developing early pneumonia! Lucky we found out early! Was I glad I was being paranoid & didn't wait another day for the antibiotics to work!

So Sam was admitted to hospital that Sat night. I had to stay with him overnight too.

The following 3 nights are terrible! Though it was good that I didn't have to worry about the meals & medicine dosage when in the hospital, it was near impossible to have a good sleep there.

The 1st night, the nurses had to monitor Sam's temperature every 2 hrs. Which means we got woken up every 2 hrs.

2nd night the nurse couldn't get a good reading, & actually switched on the lights in the room to take the temperature!

3rd night, Sam wasn't given the night dose till 10:30pm. The nurse had the audacity to say she didn't dare to come in in case we were asleep already!!!!

So poor Sam didn't sleep till 11pm, & next morning, at 7:30am, another nurse actually wanted to give Sam his shot of antibiotics while he was still asleep?????? I had to ask here to come back later so that Sam can have enough rest!

Oh, did I mention I was awaken in the middle of the 3rd night to enquire what Sam had eaten for dinner that night??????

So now that Sam's fever has gone down, he's allowed home with another cart of medicine for the next one week: 3 different types to be taken thrice daily, 2 types taken once daily, his antibiotics (once daily), & some probiotics (once daily).

So now, on top of worrying what food to prepare for Sam, I have to continue the barrage of medicine for another week, with a very high unhappy possibility that Sam wouldn't recover in time for the start of school on Monday.

About the consolation I have right now is that I can watch my fav drama shows at home, since I only had ~1.5 hrs free time for the past few days to travel home - snack for max 10 min - shower - travel back to hospital, while Sam cried the whole time (for the 1st 2 days) & hubby kept calling me to tell me to hurry back.

Oh, & luckily hubby is had taken leave initially for our trip back to Singapore. So now instead he's taking his 'holiday' here in KL feeding medicine to his precious son...................

Feeding Session in Butterfly Park

2008-08-30T23:37:00.004+08:00

Visited the Butterfly Park in the Lake Gardens today. Entrance fee was RM8 per adult Malaysian, use of cameras will cost additional RM1.

Only when we saw the charge did we realised we forgot to bring our camera! So the photos (link to album in sidebar) seen are a bit blurred, cos taken with my handphone......

The park is beautifully landscaped, much bigger & better than the one we saw in the Cameron Highlands. But then, the entrance fee was cheaper there (RM3), so I guess the money really went somewhere worthwhile.

The butterflies here not so concentrated. So in a way, it was lucky Sam visited the Cameron one before, where there were so many butterflies in the small area quite a number were dead on the ground. At least he's learnt what a butterfly is, and could look out for one.

And because there are butterflies crowding before his eyes to distract him, Sam found the tortoise pond & fish ponds more interesting this time round.

And this time, we've bought a RM1 fish food to feed the hungry fishes. Turns out that the tortoises were very hungry as well, never before have I seen tortoises clamour over each other for food!

About the only thing I don't like about visiting the Lake Gardens is: I don't know where to go after that for lunch! So we always ended up eating near our place...................

Bloody Lousy TNB!!!

2008-08-29T23:57:00.000+08:00

We got yet another power failure tonight again!!!!!

Luckily, this time it only last for abt 1 hr 20 min. If it took as long as the last time (see previous post) I'll go berserk!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But it was still bloody irritating to have the lights go out & the aircon stop suddenly, just as I was contemplating how to enjoy the remaining night after Sam fell asleep.

And the power failures are so frequent! It's not even 2 months since the switchboard got fried in July, what went wrong again?????

And to think the country is preparing to celebrate its 51 yrs of Independence this Sunday. What kind of silly place is this when they can't even get the electricity running properly in their own capital, barely 1 km away from their precious Towers, in a street where resides an embassy & a Sultanate residence????????

Sam's Botak Again!

2008-08-29T23:05:00.003+08:00

Brought Sam for his overdued haircut today.

Initially he was quite excited about the trip: went 'hair, hair, hair' the entire time it took us to reach the Michael & Guys salon in Berjaya Times Square.

But when I approached the salon & he realised where it was, he literally ran away!

It took a Cloud9 sweet (leftover from the Optical 88 visit for my new specs) to get him into the salon & onto my lap.

After the razor was started, it took another promise of a new toy car to keep him sitted throughout the entire shave. And he wailed (no, not crying, cos no tears) the whole time too.

And since he refused to have the towel tied around his neck, we ended up with his hair all over us. Luckily I remembered past experience & brought a change of clothes for him. Next time, I'll also bring a change of clothing for myself too!

But this time I made a mistake, should have asked for the No. 2 shave instead of No. 1, so now my Sam looks like he's ready for the army! ;P

Blog Diary: April ~ July 08

2008-08-29T00:02:00.001+08:00

30 July 08
Removed the BabelFish translator widget.
Adding badge link to my Facebook photos.

15 June 08
No more new topics of "Drama Mama".
Future blogging on fav drama serials will be logged in my new blog, The Drama Mama Diaries.

9 April 08
Have joined the Mom Blog Network to read other mothers' blogs, hence added the badge.

8 April 08
New label "Sleep Issues", to record Sam's sleeping issues.
Hopefully this will help me tackle the problem......

Another Week of Hell......

2008-08-28T23:35:00.002+08:00

Sam will be starting school again come Tuesday. Was finally looking forward to the end of 2 weeks of facing him 24/7, when I'm dropped another bombshell:

Hubby will be off on business trip to Australia come Monday!

This means not only can we not travel anywhere this long weekend, I'll also be stuck alone with Sam for a further 9 days!

Urgh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Child-friendly Tony Roma's

2008-08-27T14:56:00.002+08:00

Had a very good lunch today. Well, as good a lunch any mum can get when she's alone with a tired & hungry male toddler.

Brought Sam to Tony Roma's at Midvalley Megamall, cos saw they were having a promotion: children <12 yrs can eat for free on Mon ~ Wed, provided the adult ordered a main entree, of course. So, I tried my luck, and I'm definitely going back again, even if I have to pay the next time!

Firstly, they have both baby high chairs & booster seats for older children. Then, they provide crayons & an activity sheet (colouring, maze, puzzles) for the kid to play. Sam, being his 1st exposure to crayons, scared me to death by putting the crayon in his mouth!! Luckily I got it out before he bit it!!!

The starters for the kid's menu is carrot & celery sticks with dip. The waiter very wisely served this when I was still going through the menu & Sam was going "mum-mum-mum". And when I was scrambling for a wet wipe to clean Sam's not-so-clean hands, they promptly provided a wet wipe for the task!

And they didn't hurry me to order drinks or anything like that, just let me take my own time to read the usual menu after I've order fish & chips (RM$16.90) for Sam.

When I've decided on their set lunch, fish & chips too (great value at RM$19.90, includes soup, coleslaw & drink), the manager even reminded me I've already ordered a juice for Sam, so do I want the extra drink?? Wow! I'll gladly give them the extra business just for this kind of service!!!!

The fries were good, makes me feel a bit less guilty abt letting Sam eat them cos they still have the potato skins on. And the fish were really, truly lightly battered! Cos picky Sam doesn't like to eat the batter, I usually have to spend a lot of effort scraping off the batter (& usually end up eating it myself) at other restaurants before I can feed it to Sam. But Tony Roma's version had a very thin batter layer, which Sam barely noticed through all the fish, so I could spend the time eating my own delicious fish instead. Great!

I felt bad not finishing the dessert (Dirt Cup = choco pudding + Oreo crumbs) from the kids' menu. But silly Sam refused to take even a single bite, and I was feeling full & fat after eating half the dessert, so..........next time then!

When we were done, they served up another 2 warm wet wipes, one for me, 1 for Sam. Never have I been offered a wet wipe for the child before! The feeling was wonderful!

I'll definitely bring Sam back there again! Maybe next time let him try the Cheezy Pizza or the Chicken Strips while I enjoy a proper steak.............

Surviving 2nd week of Sam's School Holidays

2008-08-26T16:05:00.002+08:00

Today is the 3rd time I brought Sam along to my physiotherapy session.

Now he no longer cries at the sight of my physiotherapist (goodness knows why he did so in the 1st place!). In fact, he remembers the routine now: asked for his car to play with the moment we stepped inside the room, looked for the exercise ball to throw with, wants to wash his hands at the basin!

This session the physiotherapist was fully occupied, & I had to wait for 10 min for a bed to be vacated. And Sam surprised me by knowing the routine! The other woman had barely left the bed when Sam started pulling me towards it. I had to hold him off while the assistant does the cleaning up!

Then he petted the area where I'm supposed to rest my head, & indicated that I should take off my shoes & keep my bag on the rack. Wow!

Unfortunately, his enthusiasm only lasted till the end of the ultrasound treatment. After that, I had to spend the electro treatment, the exercise regiment & the icing routine entertaining him & explaining to him that "no, mummy's not finished yet, cannot go yet".

When we were leaving, he amazed me again with his long term memory: he remembered the cashier had an interesting pencil (even I myself can't remember which animal it was in the shape of now!) which she let him see last Thursday. But poor little fellow, the cashier didn't bring the pencil today, so he left for his promised treat on the musical car.

Weekend in Bt Tinggi

2008-08-25T18:18:00.004+08:00

What a poorly maintained place the Colmar Tropicale is!

The photos all look so good, then it turns out that only the front facade (which most photos feature), is the only well-kept area. The back & basements of the resort are so............urgh! paint peeling off, lifts a bit smelly..........& our hotel room's furniture: the sofa seats are all sunken in, dust visible on the top of the 4 poster canopy bed..........aren't we glad we only stayed for one night!!!!!!

And we were very unlucky: the rain started only after Sam woke up from his afternoon nap on Sat. So after we wasted 2 hrs sitting on the not-so-comfortable-now sofa reading & chatting while Sam napped, there was no where else we could go in the rain after Sam was fully energised & ready to go.

So yes, we ended up in the Children's Playroom for Sam to tire out sufficiently for bedtime, while we parents ended up taking photos of anything remotely interesting in, & viewable, from the Playroom! Proof of complaint:

For more photos of the trip see: http://www.new.facebook.com/album.php?aid=37451&l=78ac9&id=682608180

Otherwise, the trip seems to be most enjoyable for Sam, who loved the Rabbit Farm:

For (2) more videos of Sam in the Berjaya Hills Resort see: http://www.youtube.com/tanhui2

The front facade of the Colmar Tropicale is frankly speaking, pretty good. Really very much like stepping back into Europe:

I guess I'll probably enjoy it more if we hadn't visited similar places before during our Dutch posting. But still, the 'pasar malam' kind of stalls along the street really spoils the European feel the front facade suggests.

The only impressive part of the whole resort was the Japanese Village, partly cos I didn't know it was really situated in the forest. We had to go through a number of slopes & steps to reach the 1st Jap Tea House, & the feeling of the place was wonderful, most serene! I can fully understand why they charge so much for the Tatami Spa situated there! Even the crew delivering the towels had to go through the trails through the forest to access the spa!

Oh, if only Sam was around, we would be able to enjoy the onsen & massage there! Maybe even stay in the traditional Jap Tatami Suite??!!!!!

Surviving Day 2 of Sam's School Holidays

2008-08-19T15:21:00.004+08:00

Was surprised to see the promotion at the House of Sundanese Food in Suria KLCC, RM$19.90++ for a set meal! And they have a kids' menu too! If the promotion holds true, must go try it 1 of these days........

But then, why do I bother with a kids' menu at all????? Sam certainly doesn't seem to be appreciating my efforts to feed him:

I was enjoying my fav Stir-fried Lemongrass Beef Rice bowl with a wonderfully delicious Dragonfruit salad at Bongsen, but Sam totally didn't eat a single mouthful of his Beefball Pho soup noodle. The beefballs he took only one bite! I mean, ya, it's not as good as his fav pork meatballs from Isetan supermarket, but there's no need to be so picky right???

So it was RM$18 down the drain as Sam drank only half his fresh apple juice & ate all the rainbow sprinkles of the ice cream (he hasn't learnt the joys of ice cream yet. The sweet & crunchy sprinkles are a love at 1st try though).............

Why am I stil wondering about the kids' menu in Tony Roma's????????

Surviving Day 1 of School Holidays

2008-08-18T15:17:00.002+08:00

Lunch at Ichiban Boshi in Pavillion, ordered udon soup for Sam, which he refused to eat!

Ended up giving him 4 out of 5 of my tempura prawns. And since Sam doesn't like the tempura batter, I have to spend time scraping out the prawns for him, then eat the batter myself to go with the rice.

Talk about being a mother!!!!

High Tea at Carcossa Seri Negara

2008-08-17T21:50:00.007+08:00

Sam had fell asleep in the car on the way back home from Ikea, and I've made a wrong turn, so we thought might as well go explore the Lake Gardens & find out where the Butterfly Park is, so that next time we can drive there easily.

Well, we found the Butterfly Park. Then we found the Bird Park. Then hubby wanted to find this hotel on the other side of the Lake Gardens which is supposed to have good traditional British high tea.

We were happily on our way there following the instructions on the GPS when Sam woke up crying, to our consternation. We had thought Sam would nap for about 1.5 hrs as he does at home!

So we ended up sharing the RM$60 pp high tea (since we were still full from a German 6-sausage lunch) instead of going back another day as originally planned. Since we didn't make any reservations we couldn't have the indoor tables. Sam was delighted with the outdoor arrangement though, trying in vain to catch the pigeons out in the garden.

Hubby got an earful from me for letting Sam play under the hot afternoon sun, & spent the rest of tea time entertaining the little bugger with toy cars instead.

Picky Sam refused all the sandwiches, ate half the brownie & tasted 2 other savories. He had his 1st taste of Strawberry & Kiwi tea and Pai Mu Tan tea. After all the playing he accepted some of the scones, though he rejected the wonderfully delicious jams, silly boy. Then, of all the things in the world, he pooped!

So I ended up cleaning the stinky toddler in the air-conditioned toilet on the vanity top, not the most dignified exit out the boutique hotel!

The End of Sam's 1st Summer Camp

2008-08-15T23:35:00.005+08:00

Sam's last 4 handicrafts for his holiday camp: a photo frame, a paper lantern, 3 greeting cards (with envelopes), & the hand painting of an (I think) angel.

Hubby & I had a good laugh at Sam's photo in the frame: he looked so "脸臭臭" when he's not smiling! Ha! Must keep the photo to show him when he's older!!!! ;P

The greeting cards are surprisingly quite presentable. Will probably send them to his grandparents.............hmmm, for what occasion????????

The lantern has become Sam's "ball-on-a-stick&string". He finds it so fun to bounce the lantern up & down holding the stick, the pictures on 2 of the sides had fallen off. Now I wonder if the lantern can survive till Mooncake Festival..................

Some "freebies" from the holiday camp, though for the price we paid, it's not 'free' in any way! More like, I was surprised to receive these additional stuff:

the handicrafts (except for the lantern) were nicely packed in the Winnie the Pooh bag, which is just the right size for Sam's age. (The girls got a pink version.)

Also included were a pencil, 2 notepads of different sizes, & 2 sheets of stickers (fishes, Sam's fav). I'm keeping these on hold till (1) his current drawing pads are exhausted, (2) he's older & not likely to try to eat the pencil, and (3) I buy a sticker book to teach him the pretty stickers are supposed to go on the book, & not on the wheels of his cars, or the table etc.

Now in dread of the coming 2 weeks of holidays.....................headache just thinking about it............... :(

Sam's Holiday Camp - 1st 3 days

2008-08-13T23:51:00.004+08:00

This is the 1st week of Sam's 3 week long summer school holiday. Fortunately for me, hubby decided to let Sam experience the school's offering of holiday camp (since no such thing in Singapore's usual nursery), so I won't have to face the prospect of being stuck with Sam all day long for another whole week.

Well, after 3 days of art & crafts in the camp, I was presented with these:

So now we're clear where the money for the RM100/day holiday camp went to: all the materials & the teachers' labour cost in assembling the finished articles!

Of the (1) bear pencil holder, (2) cotton puff puppy, (3) elephant memo clip, (4) sponge printing notebook cover, (5) T-shirt printing, (6) butter cookies, (7) name plate, (8) necklace:

both hubby & I agree only the name plate (made of flour & salt) is of a useful & lasting nature, & we look forward to putting it in his own room in the near future. Although I'm still not sure what Sam contributed to the making of the name plate!

The butter cookies we've already eaten all 4 pieces of it. If by tomorrow none of us had any diarrhea, I'll say hubby's worries that Sam's fingers had been up his nose just before he cut out the cookies were totally misplaced. ;P

The T-shirt, though not exactly pretty, I think I'll let Sam wear it at least once. Maybe as the "just-in-case" clothes I carry around in the diaper bag. The notebook cover I'll probably preserve it somewhere & let Sam demolish the rest of the notebook.

As for the necklace, though the teachers say it's by the children for their mummies, I still don't see how I can fit it over my head..........not to mention the fact Sam finds the pieces (which he also cut out) resembling the butter cookies & tried to bite them!

Sam in Fancy Glasses

2008-08-13T23:46:00.002+08:00

Was washing my face after waking up this morning to be greeted by this:

He got the toy specs as part of a classmate's birthday party bag quite some time ago, and at that time, he didn't dare to put it on his face.

But now the big boy actually thought it fun to wear glasses like his daddy & mummy!

Well, as long as it's only toy glasses and not the real thing........

My 1st Parent-Teacher Meeting

2008-08-06T22:01:00.003+08:00

Got a shock today when Sam's school teacher asked to have a meeting with me today. Initially thought Sam bit a classmate or something equally naughty!

Then remembered I haven't had any formal discussions with the teachers since Sam started school in Feb. So this "2 month" report had delayed to become a "half year" report:

Gosh! Wish he's so well-behaved at home!!!!

Teething Sam is Very Picky

2008-08-03T16:10:00.003+08:00

Sam is teething: top right 2nd molar, and bottom left 2nd molar.

This means that he's not sleeping well at night. :(

And his appetite has dropped.

Not to mention the sudden fussiness to food. Rice isn't always a welcome carbohydrate at mealtimes. Prawns are a sudden favourite, to the exclusion to everything else, sometimes. Cereals are no longer welcome to the tummy, though he's willing to submit it to the mouth & saliva before spitting it out all over the sofa & table & floor...............

Hurry up & finish teething!!!!!!!!

Why Do I Even Bother to Cook for Sam When He Doesn't Eat It???

2008-07-31T19:53:00.002+08:00

Why did I bother to cook a balanced meal of brocolli & egg fried rice for Sam when he doesn't appreciate it??????

Next time I'll just stick to buying him outside food for lunch & save my effort on cutting, cooking & washing up!!!!!!!!!