Short Trip to Botanical Gardens

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)

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

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!

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

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

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

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..........