Play Then Eat

As the kids woke up quite late today, I decided to let them skip their nap, so that they'll sleep a little earlier and fall asleep faster at night (very fast indeed, in less than 10 minutes). How to occupy their time, apart from watching tv or playing electronic games? We baked cookies. It's the first time they "helped" in the kitchen and jie jie was super excited.

I saw this cute Horlicks Doggies Cookies at Giddy Tigress' blog some time back and referred to the original recipe. But I was too lazy to make cute cookies (didn't have chocolate chips at home anyway) so I used raisins and cornflakes (simply experiment lah). Ended up with a variety of flavour, shapes and sizes.

~ my version of the Horlicks cookies ~

The kids had a fun time "playing" dough. Jie jie was quite helpful, very good at making the round balls. It was difficult to cut the dough with cookie cutters coz the dough was too soft. When I beat in the flour, the dough turned lumpy so I added low fat milk (not in the recipe). Maybe I added too much, so it became very soft, so I put in extra flour. So the measurement's all out.

~ jie jie busy at work ~

Didi, on the other hand, was a real nuisance. He only wanted to "stamp" the rolled out dough. If the cut dough came out together with the cookie cutter, he screamed and fussed. He even cried when we wanted to take his "masterpiece" to make proper ones for baking. *shake head*

~ didi's "masterpiece" ~

The verdict : The kids love them. But I find them too dry and hubby said a bit tasteless. Guess raisins are not as tasty as chocolate chips. Moreover, it's only relying on Horlicks' sweetness. Never mind, the kids can slowly finish them (just have to make sure they drink LOTS of water). Let's see if I'm hardworking enough to bake again before Chinese New Year. :-)

Rumour In School

Thank you so much for your well wishes. Jie jie has fully recovered already. But the inevitable happened. Didi was infected as well. He's recovering now and like jie jie, he has throat ulcers and blisters in the mouth, but no rashes on his hands and legs. I'm so so so thankful their infection was a mild one, without any problems in eating and drinking. *phew* At the same time, his left eardrum was a bit red (possibly ear infection) so the doctor prescribed antibiotics. With antibiotics and ear drops, he didn't suffer any ear pain.

Jie jie was back to school on Wednesday. I called up the clinic to check on Monday. Although her throat doesn't really hurt anymore, the doctor advised that she should stay home for another 2 more days.

Yesterday on the way home, she told me her classmates are talking about hantu (ghost) in the toilet. So she's afraid to go to the toilet. *sigh* The description of the hantu :
。has 3 hands, 2 legs and 1 eye [sounds more like a monster, no?]
。wears white shirt and pants
。vomits milk (coz everything has to be white wor) [I can't help but LOL :D]

Our explanations and suggestion :
。Hantu doesn't come out in the day time. Coz it'll melt. [Hard to explain vapourise to her]
。Maybe her friend is just being naughty, trying to scare everyone.
。Believe us, her parents, instead of her naughty classmate.
。Get a friend to accompany her to the toilet, if she's really scared.

Our explanations didn't help much. She said it's in her mind already and she can't stop thinking about it, although she wanted so much to believe us.

So when I sent her to school today, I brought her to the toilet and showed her there's nothing to be afraid of. Hoping she'd be able to overcome the fear. It's just not possible to avoid the toilet for so many hours.

When I fetched her back just now, she gave me good news. She said she's not afraid anymore. She went to the toilet a few times and there's no hantu there. What a relief!

Her Teacher Called Me

... because she cried in school
... for one hour plus
... and teacher doesn't know what's wrong with her.

Wednesday, 3+ in the afternoon
Her teacher (Puan A) asked me to pick XY up as she's crying non-stop. I asked if she's sick or something, Puan A said she's fine. I tried talking to XY on the phone but I cannot understand what she's saying as she was sobbing uncontrollably. So I rushed to school to pick her up.

When I saw her, she was sitting alone in the canteen (it was recess time). Once she saw me, she started crying again. She told me a girl knocked her head and "she didn't even say sorry". And that made her upset. Aiyo... she's so sensitive and emotional. But I think what actually triggered her outburst was FEVER. She wasn't feeling well. I was surprised the teacher didn't realise it coz when I touched her body, it was very hot. But her hands were icy cold. I took her temperature when we reached home, it was 40C. :-| No wonder she cried like a baby... my poor baby.

Brought her to see the paediatrician at night. Doctor said got ulcers in the throat. Suspecting HFMD coz CH (her cousin brother) was infected the week before. Her fever was on the high side and it came back rather fast after medication (3-4 hours). Luckily it subsided on Thursday night. So far, she doesn't have rashes on her hands or feet. Just sore throat which is getting better now. She's rather happy with the privilege of taking cold stuff (milk, vitagen, yogurt -- which is very rare) and ice-cream. I think she should be well enough to attend school on Monday. She missed her first Sports Day in primary school yesterday.

I'm feeling rather "stressed" because I'm worried for didi. Am trying very hard to keep him away from jie jie but they'll eventually end up playing together, in close contact. It's just so frustrating when the kids are getting sick one after another (thankfully not at the same time). I know this is common when they start schooling. It takes time to build up their immune system, especially in didi's case. Sigh... it's part of growing up, I know. They'll get stronger after each attack. I'm also fed up my recent posts are about the kids being sick. But no choice coz I want to jot down their health records as future reference.

New Routine

I've been rather busy since school started. The kids are not the only ones adjusting to their new schools, Mommy also need to adjust to the new routine. Now I've to go in and out of the house more times in a day. Luckily PaPa is sending CE to school in the morning. I just need to fetch him back from kindy (take turns with SIL) at noon, fetch jie jie to school and pick her up in the evening. Kakak and didi will follow me when I fetch jie jie. I don't feel very comfortable leaving them home alone as I'll be gone for at least half an hour. But I left them at home today coz didi has just recovered and the weather was very hot. Better not let him walk under the hot sun.

Although the traffic is much heavier and chaotic compared to the kindy area, it's still manageable. It's just a matter of getting used to. Most of the time, I can find a parking lot (50 sen per hour), which my skill can handle. :D Parking is not an issue coz there's an open-air car park a bit further away. I just need to pay more (RM3 per entry). The walk from the car park to her school is about 5 minutes.

Jie jie ~ She was fine the first few days of school. Towards the end of the week, she was teary-eyed when I left her there. Why? Because she wants Mommy. I guess she's just being manja. She didn't mix with the other girls and just stick to her buddy from kindy. Maybe she needs a little more time to open up and make new friends. However, I'm happy to see improvements over the week. She's not teary-eyed anymore when I leave her there and she told me her new friend offered her some snacks during recess time. :-)

On Tuesday, she came back with some "souvenirs". Someone accidentally pushed her and she fell into the small (dry) drain near her classroom. She got some scratches on her knee and hand. Luckily it's nothing serious. She was really brave as she said she didn't cry at all (surprisingly, coz she can be a cry baby at times hehehe).

~ minor scratches ~

Didi ~ He's been away from school since Monday. Started coughing badly last Saturday. Got fever from Monday till Wednesday. Started antibiotics (for chest infection) on Monday but as his fever kept coming back, I brought him to see the paediatrician again yesterday evening. Good thing his chest is clear. He was fine with doctor checking his chest and ears. But he refused to open his mouth. I had to hold him tight and doctor pried his mouth open. *sigh* As his cough was very chesty, doctor ordered the use of the nebuliser and he fussed big time. He didn't like the mist in his nose. Anyway, he survived the whole session, with breaks in between, to talk or cry or "smell" me. hahaha My lousy boy.

His fever has subsided today but he won't be going to school tomorrow. Might as well let him have a good rest at home, wouldn't want to risk an infection again while his immune system is still low. That means he's skipped school for the whole of week 2. I see history repeating itself as jie jie also skipped school a lot when she first started kindy. Hopefully the broken momentum wouldn't affect him much and he'll settle down just fine.

First Two Days Of SchoolS

Morning Session
The day started well as I didn't have any problems waking CE up. I told him it's time to go to school. He didn't get up immediately, but at least he didn't make any fuss. He's usually alright when awoken from his sweet slumber as the magic words were "Let's go kai kai." I hope "school" would continue to be a magic word as well. hehehe

All of us (PaPa, Mommy and jie jie) accompanied him to kindy. The kids lined up at the school compound for assembly while the Principal gave a short speech and introduced their class teachers and the new teachers. The boy was so bored (or didn't know what was happening), he looked here and there, squatted down when everyone was standing, stared at a "friend" (no, not a girl hehehe) standing next to him. They were then brought to their classrooms. He doesn't get the idea of lining up. Doesn't like to stand in line, waiting for others. He'll somehow "stray" away. :D

After awhile, it was snack time. He sat at the bench together with the other students. He was given kuih and a cup of soya bean (that's what he told me). I waited near the canteen and suddenly he appeared in front of me, telling me he wanted to pee. After that, he didn't want to go back to the canteen. Instead he found some toys nearby and sat there playing. When snack time's over, he refused to line up. Luckily he was ok when his teacher held his hand and led him up to the classroom.

The kids were given some toys (building blocks) to play. He was hogging all the blue colours. I pity the girl next to him. He gave her only 1 yellow piece. hahaha Seeing that he was playing happily, I went to join PaPa at the nearby coffee shop for breakfast. Of course I got his permission first. hehehe Anyway, he was left there for only 1 hour. I guess he didn't cause any problems coz the teacher didn't say anything when PaPa fetched him after school.

~ the hogger :D ~

He skipped school today because he's sick. :-( Actually he started having runny nose yesterday morning. Then fever in the afternoon. Luckily his fever didn't come back today. Hopefully after resting at home for a day, he's fit enough to attend school tomorrow. Jie jie is also having runny nose. But since she doesn't have fever, she doesn't get to skip school.

Afternoon Session

~ pose for pictures before leaving home ~

Sent XY to school in the afternoon. The traffic was chaotic, as expected. I didn't even bother to go to the main door. Even around the side door, traffic was crazy and can't find any parking nearby. I brought XY to her classroom first while PaPa went to look for parking. Passed the booklets and forms (which was taken/bought during orientation day) to the class teacher. There was so MANY things to fill up.

She was sitting next to her friend from kindy but the teacher rearranged their seats today so she's no longer sitting next to her "old" friend. PaPa went to check on her during recess time. She's getting RM2 pocket money per day. And she's learning how to use money. She doesn't really understand the concept of change so she doesn't know how much she should get back if she's paid more than what the item costs. Angeline shared with us how to teach pre-schoolers about money. Her self-created lessons are very helpful. I wanted to go through the lessons with XY during the holidays but we are only halfway through Lesson 2. Firstly, I didn't have enough coins. hahaha And secondly, I didn't have enough patience. :p She seems to like the "big" school because she gets to buy food during recess time and bring snacks to eat. Wait till the real lessons begin and the homework starts piling. *nyek nyek nyek*