Sam the Biter

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

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

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

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

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

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'

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.