All About Your Child

Flashback: 10th February 2014, Monday

JUST BEFORE BEDTIME, Kitkit broke a news that was so disturbing, I could not help but scolded him for a very long time.
So much so that even when he was lying in bed, with his eyelids drooping, I was still not done!

What did he do?

He knew he was in DEEP TROUBLE even before he confessed.
He was stammering as he tried to tell Allan that MY FAVOURITE BLUE GLASS BASIN is ‘spoiled‘!
This was his first time confessing his mistakes to his dad instead of me.
He knew how much I loved that Blue Glass Basin and how much trouble I went through to get it back from overseas for my bedroom toilet.
He knew I would definitely flare up if its NOT repairable.

Allan could not figure out what Kitkit was stammering about.
After trying very hard to understand him, Allan gave up and told Kitkit to ‘show the problem’ to him.

The stopper of the basin was stuck.
Water could not be drained away.
The stopper could not be pushed down any further, nor can it rebound up again!
Allan dare not use too much force as the basin is made of glass, fearing that it may crack if too much pressure was on it.

Me: “Kitkit, can you tell me what happened EXACTLY!?”
KK: “I was washing my hands. Then I want to wipe the basin with toilet paper. The toilet paper broke into pieces after touching the water.”
Me: “Then? What happened next?”
KK: “Then the stopper cannot ‘come back up’ already.”
Me: “You mean the stopper was pressed down when you were washing your hands?”
KK: “No.”
Me: “Then why do you say the stopper cannot ‘come back up’ when its not even pressed down in the first place?”
KK: “I see the toilet paper break into pieces, then the stopper cannot “come back up”.
Me: “I do not understand. When was the stopper pressed down?”
KK: “I cannot remember.”
He started to show his USUAL signs of anxiety : One feet on top of the other. One hand in the other with fingers rubbing very hard continuously against one another.

I tried to find out the cause of the problem all over again.
But he was so frightened he started to babble nonsense!
“The stopper cannot ‘come back up’. I tried many times. The stopper cannot ‘bounce up’ again……”
He just kept on repeating those words.
I could not understand what happened exactly, when he could not explain himself properly, under such tremendous stress.
I do not see the point of probing further anymore…..

It was almost 11pm.
I told him to go to bed.
He walked out of my bedroom toilet and went back to his own room.

After meddling with the basin for some time, Allan could finally separate the strainer from the glass basin and both of us were SHOCKED to see that the strainer was clogged with TOILET PAPERs!!!

It looked as if toilet papers were PUSHED into the strainer and draining pipe on purpose as it was so clogged up, there was hardly any empty space!
Thus it was the many bits of toilet paper which prevented the spring/coil of the stopper from ‘bouncing back up’ when pressed.

I was REALLY ANGRY NOW!
Kitkit did not mention ANYTHING about washing the toilet paper down the basin.
He only said that he used the toilet paper to wipe the wet basin.

I stomped into his room.
He was still awake but eyelids were drooping.
Me: “Did you wash the toilet papers down the basin?!”
KK: “A bit only.”
Me: “Its NOT abit!!! The strainer was almost completely clogged up!!!!”
KK: *silence*
Me: “Why did you wash the toilet papers down the basin????!”
KK: “I don’t know why.”
*faint*

Me: “Kitkit, don’t you know that toilet paper is to be thrown into the toilet bowl?”
KK: “Yes.”
Me: “Then why did you try to wash the toilet paper down the basin?”
KK: “It broke into pieces and stick to the basin, so I just turned on the tap to wash the bits of toilet paper away.”
Me: “Don’t you know that toilet paper will clog the basin?”
KK: “No, I don’t know. I thought it will wash down like the toilet bowl.”
*sigh*

HOW CAN I BE ANGRY with Kitkit, WHO DID NOT KNOW THE CONSEQUENCES of his ACTIONS?!
Just like a toddler throwing a glass cup, without knowing that its breakable when it lands on the ground.

I was EXTREMELY UPSET!
Yet, I cannot blame an ignorant act.
The mixture of feelings was stirring up a mess within me…
It was tough!

Its late.
A time which everyone should be relaxing, yet we had to get down and dirty and wet, to settle this PREVENTABLE and UPSETTING issue.
*scream*

By the way, I was not done yet!
Me: “Can you tell me WHY did you wipe the basin?”
KK: “Because it has water.”
OMG!!!! I KNOW HE IS TRULY IN a WORLD of his own NOW!
Me: “The basin in the kitchen is also wet after you have washed your hands. Why didn’t you use toilet paper to wipe that basin too?”
KK: “I don’t know.”
His eyelids were drooping more now……

*slap forehead*
I know I would NOT be getting anywhere with him at this hour and when he is in such a sleepy state.
I decided to stop there, but I was still feeling VERY angry when I walked out of the bedroom.

Went back to my bedroom toilet to continue to assist Allan in clearing the strainer and the draining pipe.
Its often during such times, I feel that common sense is NOT common with Kitkit.
He has a VERY UNIQUE way of understanding things.
His answers and actions are often very different from the rest of the family.
Even his Chinese tutor noticed it too, especially when he is doing the comprehension section of the Chinese worksheet.
His responses to the questions asked can be SO unusual that amuses her; and often made her wonder why does his understanding of the comprehension passage differs so much from her other students.

After spending time digging and spraying the pieces of ‘stuck toilet papers’ in the strainer and draining pipe, we could finally clear ALL the toilet papers and fix the parts back to the glass basin.

1+ hour after Kitkit first reported the issue to Allan, something ABNORMAL happened…..

Allan and I were in the living room, following our ‘online instructor’, doing our ab exercises.
Both of us were lying on the floor.
From Allan’s angle, he cannot see the kids’ bedroom, but I can.

I SAW KITKIT GOT UP suddenly AND SAT ON THE EDGE OF HIS BED!

He stayed motionless for some seconds.
I stopped my ab exercise and walked into his room, “Kitkit, are you ok?”
He did not look at me nor showed ANY SIGNS that he heard me talking to him!
He just sat there with his eyes opened.

“Kit?!” I called him again.
No response.
Not even a twitch.

Suddenly, he stood up and walked towards the study room
I followed silently behind him.
He gave his study table a few taps before he walked back to his bed and sat there motionless AGAIN for a few seconds.

“Kitkit, are you looking for something?” I asked.
He did not respond again.
Immediately, it struck me that Kitkit was SLEEPWALKING!!!!!

What he did NEXT was ALARMING (to me)……..

This is my first encounter with someone sleepwalking.

Ever since I was told that I talk in my sleep when I was in Primary school, I was expecting myself to sleepwalk.
However, till this day, nobody confirmed that for me.
Yet, because of my suspicion, I had great interest in this topic and read about the facts on sleepwalking before.

Sleepwalking is more common in kids than in adults.
And kids usually grow out of it when they become teenagers.

Kids who sleepwalk could be due to

• hereditary
• sleep deprivation
• exhaustion
• inconsistent sleeping hours
• fever
• sickness
• side effects of medication
• stress

Sleepwalking does NOT mean that the person has psychological issues and definitely far from being termed as mentally impaired.
It is REALLY NOT that serious!
So PLEASE DO NOT be paranoid if you see your child sleepwalking one night.

However,
it is good to stay with the kid,
walk with him/her QUIETLY,
so as to keep an eye on him/her,
in case he/she trips and falls.

Kids tend to sleepwalk after being asleep for 1 to 2 hours.
I stayed up many hours after the kids are asleep anyways.
So it is not a problem for me to keep watch IF my child sleepwalks.

Alright, back to Kitkit’s EXCITING sleepwalking experience……

As I had said earlier,
He walked back to his bed and sat there motionless for a few seconds.

I did not wake him up, as I remembered very clearly NOT to wake a sleepwalking child.

After that brief moment of stillness with his butt on his bed,
he unzipped his spectacles holder,
took out his lens cloth,
and blew his nose into it!

He took the cloth,
walked to the kitchen,
and threw the cloth into the dustbin.

Then,
he walked towards the flask,
poured himself a glass of water,
gagged a couple of times,
(I was so afraid that he might vomit, but he did not.)
composed himself after a few coughs.

Afterwards,
he walked to the rubbish chute area,
stood beside my washing machine,
pulled down his pants,
and was ready to pee!!!

I was totally shocked!
I stopped him by turning him around,
and guided him into the toilet WITHOUT saying a word.
His “aiming skill” was bad that night.
Well,
at least he remembered to flush even when he is sleepwalking!

*thumbs up*

He washed his hands,
walked back to his bed,
gave a sigh,
laid his head on his pillow,
and breathed deeply……..

It was then, I knew it was over.

11th February 2014 – The Next Morning
After his usual morning shower before school, I asked if he woke up after he went to bed last night.
He gave an affirmative “NO.”

I told him what happened, his face became pale. He had NO recollection of any of the events.
Thus it confirmed my initial guess : my son ( INDEED ) WAS SLEEPWALKING last night…..

Its my first encounter with someone sleepwalking and I had learned TWO very important lessons:~
(1)
I believed it was because of my harsh tone and scoldings before he slept, that made him so stressed and mentally exhausted.
The lethal combination could have been the reason for his FIRST sleepwalk experience.
Therefore, in future, no matter what happens, I should AVOID giving him a piece of my mind just before his bedtime.

(2)
I should NOT tell him that he had sleepwalked, if it happens to him again.
After he came back from school, his first words were, “Mummy, I am very sad and cannot concentrate the whole day in school today. I feel like I am an alien. I feel like I am crazy and have mental problem because I sleepwalked. Is there a problem with me? Am I sick?”
I sat him down and told him that it is normal when kids sleepwalk.
I continued to tell him the things that trigger sleepwalking.
Most importantly, I told him that it is NOT an illness!
Yet, the MOST COMFORTING sentence (to him) that came out of my mouth was, “It will go away naturally, when you become a teenager.”

He gave a smile and a big sigh of relief.

My first encounter with a sleepwalking child was BOTH Exciting and Worrying at the same time.
As Kitkit likes to cook, he may just turn on the stove, crack an egg and fry an omelete for supper when he is sleepwalking!

Hhhmmmmmm………..
Well, I believe so long as I remember lesson number (1), this would likely be his first and last sleepwalking experience.
*fingers crossed*

My Child “Sleepwalked” for the First Time!

Today is the day to find out how well Kitkit’s eyes responded to the Atropine eyedrops, after being on it for two months. Afterall, he needs to be on it for 2 years. Just in case you are wondering why? Read here “My Child on Atropine for 2 years“.

We went to Singapore National Eye Centre (SNEC) right after school, no time to go home for bath. Though not smelling as pleasant as we wished to be, we were hoping for pleasing results during today’s checkup.

While waiting for his name to be called, Kitkit was playing games on the mobile phone. The wait was about 20mins and I am unsure if these 20mins on the electronic device actually affected the result of his eye check. There was an increase of 25 for each eye!!!

The last check up in SNEC was 2 months ago!
25 degree increment for 2 months sounds pretty worrying to me!
Imagine, 25 degree increment x 6……he would have an increment of 150 in a year!
Isn’t it worrying???
However, the doctor said further observation is needed before a conclusion can be made as to whether is Atropine working well, as it should, in slowing down Kitkit’s myopia progression.

Nonetheless, I told Kitkit to avoid playing with electronic device during our next visit to SNEC in March 2014.
Yes, we will need to go back to SNEC again 2 months later.
During the next visit, the eye doctor planned to do a more thorough check on his eyes; by then he would be almost 5 months on Atropine already.

Today, the eye doctor affirmed that Kitkit’s pupils are slightly dilated.
She was concerned if Kitkit is doing well under sunlight (glare tolerance level) and even volunteered to write a letter to the school for my son to wear a cap during P.E. lessons. Kitkit said NO immediately! *laugh*
He does not want to be that outstanding in class…… so the eye doctor respected her patient’s decision.

I was also concerned if Kitkit had to miss a few days or even a week on Atropine when he goes for school camp (usually there will be a school camp for all Primary 5 students).
The eye  doctor did encourage Kitkit to try to learn to do it on his own.
(Remember the struggle I talked about in the other ‘Atropine’ blog post? Thus you can imagine Kitkit’s facial expression after hearing that from the eye doctor.)
However, she did mention that if Kitkit still could not do it when the time comes, then he can do WITHOUT the Atropine eyedrops for those camping days.

I had expressed my concern towards Kitkit NOT wearing spectacles during his 2-hour soccer training as well. I asked how much impact will that 2 hours weekly affect his eyes.
The doctor said that we could consider getting him sports glasses that are NOT elongated Nor curved. She said she is aware that there are such glasses overseas and recommended that we do our search on the internet.
Anyhow, she also added that if Kitkit insists that he can ‘see‘ the ball, then those 2 hours under the sun, without spectacles will not do much harm.

Yup, with that we left SNEC. Hhhmmmm….another $100+ flew out of the wallet again.
*pout*
With fingers and toes crossed, I do hope that the next visit to SNEC, 2 months later, will bring Kitkit (and I) more delightful news.

Gentle Reminder for the CONTEST to WIN A Pair of Eyelet Junior Frame and Crizal lens for your child.

Remember to submit your writeup to info@nanyang.com.sg with the subject title:
“EYELET JUNIOR & CRIZAL CONTEST”

BEFORE 14 January 2014.

In your writeup, tell us in not more than 50 words why you think Eyelet Junior and Crizal lens can help your kid. The winner will be selected by Nanyang Optical and Essilor.

GOOD LUCK once again!