Scratch Here Scratch There

I wrote about CE's itchy red patch on his stomach area last week. It has become worse since then. As there was no improvement after applying the Foban-H cream that his paediatrician prescribed, we brought him back for check-up again on Monday. The doctor said it doesn't look like normal rashes so he asked us to consult a skin specialist.

Went to see the specialist on Wednesday. Doctor said it's viral infection. This could last for weeks, even months. He prescribed another cream. It's a combination of 2 medicine - Crotamiton and Ge****yein (can't decipher the nurse's writing :-|). Really pity the little boy as it's very itchy. Luckily there's no other discomfort. But he's been a good boy as he stays very still for me to apply the cream all over his body after his bath and he willingly take the oral medicine for itchiness (Antamin).

A few days have passed and new rashes are still appearing. But the rashes around the abdomen area have turned brownish, which is what the doctor expected. I really hope it wouldn't last for months. I really don't know how he got them, the doctor can't give an explanation either.

~ the abdomen area ~

~ his chest and neck ~

~ his back ~

Hope I didn't spoil anyone's appetite. :p

No More Fruits

So we had this for teatime today.

~ pineapple muffins ~

When the kids were napping, I baked pineapple muffins. Kakak mixed the ingredients (eggs, water, corn oil and ready-mix flour), I took care of the oven. Had to bake 3 rounds as I've got a small oven and I've got 42 little muffins.

The kids ate the muffins once they woke up from their nap. They walloped 5 muffins each. Didi kept asking for more. I hid the rest of the muffins but when I was eating them, he kept pestering me. I had no choice but to give him a few more bites. He has become very greedy lately. Always asking for more. :-|

~ the kids can’t get enough of it ~

I want to play games

This is what CE has been saying a lot lately. He wants me to give him the green light to switch on the Wii games. He'll quickly take the tv remote and change it to the games channel. Then he'll take out the Wii remote from the drawer and press the button to start the game. We don't allow him to touch the console so he cannot change the disk. I'll change it (if need to) and he'll point the remote at the censor and click the button to start the game.

Actually when he says he wants to play games, he's asking ME to play, so that he can control the remote. There's one button on the remote that's constantly used - to continue the game (after some instructions) and to make the selection. It's not that difficult. When the screen shows the "A" button (to continue to the next screen), he just need to press the remote. So he's always on the look-out for the "A" button. When we need to make a selection (e.g. Quit or Retry), we just tell him "Q" or "R", then he'll point and press to select.

~ our personal remote controller ~

Only when we're using Wii Fit, he can have full control of the remote. If we play the basic games, we'll need the remote control to play. So he's got nothing to do. Luckily at this point of time, he's not too interested in the games. Just wants to control the remote. So there's less fighting between the kids as one is playing and one is the remote controller. :-)

~ jie jie in action on the Wii Fit ~

So Proud Of You

Last Saturday, I went to XY's kindy for Parent-Teacher's Day, to collect her exam results and discuss her progress in school with her class teacher, Ms Irene.

For her 1st semester exam, she scored 100% for 3 papers (English, Bahasa Malaysia and Science), 88% for Chinese and 90% for Mathematics. We're very happy with her results. As parents, we shouldn't emphasize too much on the scores (at kindy level) but use the exam as a guide to see what needs improvement.

We've always been concerned about her Chinese language. We started to enforce more Mandarin-speaking at home since last year. Ms Irene said her Mandarin has improved. She's conversing more in Mandarin and has wider vocabulary. She would've no problems coping in a Chinese-medium primary school. By the way, we STILL haven't decided which medium school to send her to. How come, you may ask, as we need to register for the school when she's 5 years old? Sigh... long story.

Anyway, back to her progress, these are some of Ms Irene's comments and what I was thinking in my heart :
-> Has leadership qualities. The boys have their own leader and she's the leader for the girls (only 5 girls in her class). *She's pretty bossy huh.*
-> Very helpful to the teachers and also her friends. *She's very kepoh (busybody), I know.*
-> Very observant, especially during science subject. She asks a lot of questions, meaning she thinks. *Oh, she does? (hahaha I'm a terrible mom hor.)*
-> Much more independent now. She can do work on her own.
-> Very daring and confident. She's willing to share her knowledge. She volunteered to show her ballet dance to her teachers and classmates. She asked her good friend (who's in the same ballet class) to perform together but she refused. So she went ahead and danced on her own. *Errr... daring or loves attention?*
-> She writes very slowly, especially the Chinese characters. Ms Irene has highlighted this to me before. I've explained that she's trained to write slowly and carefully at home, otherwise her strokes will be out of shape sometimes. Because of this, she sometimes need more time to finish her work in class, or she'll have to continue them at home. Then she added, the end result is neat and tidy work. *smiling inside*
-> One thing that hasn't changed since Day 1, she's still as talkative as ever. But Ms Irene said it's manageable, she'll keep quiet when asked to. Guess she's very forgetful. Keep forgetting that she has to keep her mouth shut. hahaha We all agreed that she really loves to T-A-L-K. *So proud of my chatter box.*

So what's her reward? We've already bought it for her the week before her exam. The Nintendo Wii. We said it's for her, but actually mommy and PaPa also want to play. :D I've already set the rules :
(1) Can only play on non-school days. Sometimes she gets to play on weekdays (but just for a short while), when the adults are at it. So we're quite flexible actually.
(2) When we ask her to stop, she has to. No appealing and no complaining. Otherwise, no more playing in the future. This she follows (sometimes need reminding), but so far so good. Everybody happy.

The Celebration

Today the little boy turns 3. My PIL were here last weekend to attend a wedding dinner. So we had a simple birthday celebration at home last Sunday (17-5-09).

The birthday boy requested a "car cake". Don't know why the fascination with cars. He doesn't play much with his toy cars. He's never watched Cars, the movie before. Anyway, he insisted on a red car. Luckily the bakery in town has the picture of Lightning McQueen.

Here are some photos. Enjoy...




PaPa will get a mini cake on the way home later. We'll have another round of candle-blowing and cake-cutting tonight. I think the little boy is confused why we wished him "Happy Birthday" today when he's already cut his cake last Sunday. But I'm sure he doesn't mind having another round of celebration.

Very Suay

I brought CE to consult his paediatrician this morning. He has some rashes on his neck, chest and abdomen after a one-day fever on Monday. His runny nose is just clearing up and I thought might as well check to see everything's alright with his ear and throat. Luckily no further infection. Also, there's a red itchy patch on his body that didn't go away after a week (I applied Hydrocort). It has dried up a bit but it seemed to have enlarged. Doctor prescribed Foban-H, a cream that contains antibiotic.

~ red patch on his right side (stomach area) ~

The suay thing that happened was I got summoned for parking without paying. Why I said suay? Because I was prepared to pay. I knew I didn't have any coins in my wallet so before I left the house, I 'stole' 50 sen (20+20+10) from the kids' musical coin box. But when I put in the coins, it didn't accept my 10 sen coin. Then I realised it's a SGD10¢. As CE and Kakak were waiting at the paed's clinic (I dropped them in front of the clinic earlier), I didn't bother to go change the coins. Moreover, I only have RM50 notes. I was secretly hoping that I won't get summoned (it's quite common around that area). I was gone for about half an hour (max 40 minutes). When I got to the car, there was a piece of paper stuck to my wiper. *sigh sigh sigh* So instead of paying 50 sen, now I've to pay RM30. Thanks to that SGD10¢. *arrrgh!!*

Mother's Day 2009

This year, Mother's Day is very special to me. Not because of how it was celebrated, but because my mom was here. We came back from Singapore together on Thursday night. I went there the day before to attend my 3rd uncle's funeral. Mom went on Tuesday.

We didn't have any lavish celebration, didn't go to any fancy restaurant. For breakfast, we just ate dim sum at a shop nearby. As we had a late breakfast and we've to leave for the airport at 2+ pm (to send mom off), we had a light lunch of fried bihun. Then it was a simple dinner at home, just like any ordinary day. Well, XY wished me "Happy Mother's Day" early in the morning. And didi too wished me when prompted. Hmmm... it's not that ordinary after all yeah. ;-)

Happy Mother's Day to you!

I'd like to take this opportunity to apologise for not visiting you lately. Have been sleeping early and resting more while fighting the war. I have a few things to attend to (will be busy till June) so I'll have to go slow on blogging and blog hopping. Would really appreciate your understanding. See you... when I see you okay?
:-)

The Long Weekend

Thank you very much for all your get-well wishes and caring gestures. Unfortunately, the virus seemed to be very strong this time around. XY is fully recovered already but I'm not. But it's just the end part. I guess it takes a little more time for the "elderly". hahaha

Didi's condition worsened after my previous update. His throat infection spread to his ear (again!). He was really in pain this time as the doctor said his right eardrum was very red. Luckily it was under control after medication (painkiller, antibiotic and ear drops). Then he complained of pain and itch on his left ear on Tuesday morning. I just put the ear drop for him (for 2 days) and he's okay now. So I can also announce victory for him. Yay!

Okay, enough of this boring health issues. Here's a short update on our activities last weekend.

Friday
Went to IOI Mall after our bak kut teh brunch. The kids had a great time at Jusco's playland. After considering for months, we finally bought the Nintendo Wii. And also the Wii Fit a few days later (Tuesday).

That night, after the kids slept, PaPa and I played tennis (the Wii game lah :D) till about 3am. It was a really good workout as our t-shirts were wet (partly from exercise and partly from the hot weather). We swung our arms as if we're playing real tennis. Also moved our body (stretched a bit) to reach the ball. My arms and shoulders ached till now. And that proved how unfit I am. As we're so sticky, we had to shower before sleeping. What a night.

Saturday
Just stayed home.

Sunday
Went to KLCC. PaPa went to take a look at the Home Decoration Exhibition (Homedec 09) while I brought the kids to Petrosains. XY was quite fascinated with some of the experiments but I didn't have much opportunity to explain to her. I had to take care of the excited didi who kept touching this and that. There are games for the kids (and adults) to play and you really need to spend at least 2-3 hours there. I didn't go for the Helicopter Simulator coz I didn't want to waste time waiting for our turn. I'd think that should be fun.

Our tickets included DinoTrek, the dinosaur exhibition. It was quite interesting to see the different types of dinosaurs in 3D. They can move too! There're computerised panels where you can play games (dino puzzles) and read more information about dinosaurs. We took some pictures with their interactive camera and they'll be e-mailed to us (need to type in the e-mail address). But I haven't received them yet. Maybe it doesn't really work.

Pictures taken in DinoTrek :

~ Apatosaurus (I think) ~

~ Spinosaurus vs. Tyrannosaurus Rex ~

~ Maiasaurus ~