All About Your Child

- We had another of our ‘Throw-Away-Toys’ moment again. After Keatkeat’s birthday bash in November and Christmas, the toys have exceeded the ‘limit’ which I have set for them.

Usually we would have this practice just before a birthday celebration or a present giving session like Children’s Day or Christmas. Our perfect ‘excuse’ to do it today was the anticipation of the Lion Heads’ replacement mentioned in yesterday’s post.

You can imagine how WILLINGLY my boys were at throwing those broken toys away. When you don’t have such ‘good reasons’ even those cars that have lost 4-wheels are like treasures to them! But during ‘Throw-Away-Toys’ routine, these are first to go….

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- While Allan was reading the updates of the English Soccer on the net, I was the monster chasing my boys around my 80+ square meter house for almost 45mins non-stop!

I remember Anthony Robbins once said in his seminar, “Use your motion to change your emotions”… so for those of you who saw my SOS post on my other blog, you know I had a burning ‘head’ yesterday and just as I expected, this morning I woke up with a headache.

Guess what? The mad chase around the house did change my grumpy look… *laugh* Aren’t I glad I have kids? Sure I AM!

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- At dinner time, Keatkeat did it again. The urge to pass motion comes after first few mouthful of rice. 1st attempt was not rewarding, nothing came out from his ‘hole’ after sitting on the toilet bowl for 10mins.

Came back and took another few bites. 15mins later, the urge came again, this time, he got a satisfying result. He even exclaimed that he only needed 3 wipes to get his bottom cleaned, instead of the usual 10-20 wipes.

He doesn’t like to wash, he prefers to wipe. I think either way, I’m fine. So long as he is comfortable and CLEANed. Personally, I prefer him to wipe because if he is so used to washing his bum after the ‘big business’ is done, when he is doing ‘IT’ outside, he will have issues, cos’ there’s no water hose for him to wash.

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- Binbin have not done this for a long time, but his unique ‘talent‘ have not left him. He did it again just now. *laugh* He fell asleep while he was eating his dinner half-way. Please don’t ask me how he did it. He just DID IT!!! He was munching away and the next moment, he was snoring…. *huge laugh*

When you live in a multi-racial, multi-religious country like Singapore, its really hard to fully enjoy a season. It was just Christmas a while agao, and now, the shops are busy changing their stocks from blue-and-white to gold-and-red.

Yes, Chinese New Year is on 26 January 2009. Having a higher number of Chinese population over here, its unmistakably that more people celebrates CNY then Christmas. Well, the truth is: not all Chinese are Christians but MOST Christians are Chinese….

We went to Chinatown today, for a walk, just to see if those temporary CNY shops are up, just to see if the decorations are done, just to be there earlier before the crowd to get into the mood of the longest celebrated season every year.

Personally, I think that Keatkeat and Binbin have very strong legs as compared to kids of their age. I credit it to ‘never-pram and hardly-carry’ days ever since they made their first step.

We walked for 3 hours non-stop. What truly kept them going were their search for a replacement…. for these:-

(These were pictures taken during this year’s CNY in February)

Those were the mini lion heads we bought for them earlier this year, to greet my PIL when we visited them on the first day of CNY, which made everyone laughed so hard.

Binbin’s orange lion head’s beard and moustache are completely gone, the ‘body’ has been detached from the head long ago. As for Keatkeat’s white lion head, the ears were ripped off months after the above performance.

Allan and I are not very keen on getting them another set. The kids are aware. In a way, they are ’sensible’. They are willing to compromise for a smaller one. Those that are hand-held, more like a puppet, instead of getting the exact same size as their disfigured Lions lying in that Toy Box together with all their Hot Wheels.

Yes the kids found those puppets, almost half the price of what they own. But the adults played delayed-tactics. Afterall, its still another month away and the parents know their kids too well… they have good intentions in mind, they just want the lions to be still in ‘one-piece’ for the big day on 26 January…. so till the day gets nearer, the family is staying away from shops that look really Red-and-Gold from afar… *wink*

Keatkeat: “Mommy, how do you make me a boy?”

Me: (Acting as if I don’t understand) “What do you mean?”

KK: “When I come out of your tummy, how did I become a boy?”

Me: “Well, Papa & Mommy think and Think and THINK really hard for you to become a boy. And so you did become a boy….” (Winked at Allan)

KK: “Oh! So you and Papa did not think very hard for a girl because girls are troublesome, right?!”

Me: *Huge Laugh* “Yes, yes…yes…” *Laugh*

I’m sorry girls… I agreed! *laugh*

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Binbin: “Mommy, Look!”

*Hop*

*Hop*

*Hop* He hopped thrice on one leg before crumpling down on the floor.

Me : *Smile* *clap clap clap* Though he has done it so many times, I am still not sick of showing that little excitement as if he was doing it for the first time.

Binbin: “Mommy, I’m so clever, right?! I’m only 3 years old and I can hop on one leg. When I am 4 years old (with his head slightly tilted upwards), I can hop with NO LEGS ah !”

Me : “Huh? No Legs?!”

Binbin : “Yes, No-pi-li-nope! No legs! I can hop with my HANDS and my BACKSIDE!!!”

And he attempted to do it. But failed.

Binbin: “Aiya! I can’t do it now because I’m not 4 years old yet!”

*Huge Laugh*

Today we went to Singapore’s National Skin Centre for a follow-up on Binbin’s Atopic Eczema. Read here if you want to know how serious his case is.

I’m so glad that the doctor say there is an improvement. Anyhow, he still prescribed a milder steroid this time as compared to the first visit ~ Dhacort Cream. We are supposed to go back for another check-up 4 months later…. but I requested for an open date instead.

We have a hunch that it might be orange that’s causing the reaction, but we are still in the ‘testing’ stage. Its more or less under control now, so we’ll act as we go….

(pop over to my personal blog to read how crazy I was over books after Binbin’s checkup)

If you do, then you would love this:

“What’s this?” you asked….

Its good-old-ME! *laugh*

“HUH??!!!” you responded…

Let me help you see better:

The blue lines are my hair, the black circles are my eyes, the white circles are my nostrils and the pink is my mouth! *laugh*

From who? My 3 year old Binbin…. “Mommy! I just made you! So pretty hor?!”

*laugh* How could I say no to that?! *laugh*

(Sorry girls and guys, I know I haven’t been visiting you as much as I normally would… especially after the ‘invigilating-week’, I’ve been really busy… I promise, I’ll starting hopping by your place real soon….)

Binbin has always been a Mommy’s boy. I did a post on how Anti-Dad he used to be. It was a long and bumpy journey before the little boy willingly hold his dad’s hands. But over the past week when I was invigilating for the ACCA examination, the 2 got really close. No, I’m not jealous, in case that’s what you are wondering. In fact, I was so happy when Binbin chose Allan to tug him in bed last night, instead of me.

And now, the 3 year old willingly kisses his Papa….

For most of you who have been ‘regulars’ here know what kind of person my MIL is. Whenever I talk about her, I’m never stingy on details *laugh*, but I don’t exaggerate ok!

Today when we were over there, as usual on Sundays, I witness something that made my heart feels good…. errrrmmm….even though I’m NOT supposed to…

My eldest BIL, whose family stays with her, is the ONLY one in the family who dares to shout at my MIL if he does not agree with her. And here’s the drama for today: -

Little 1 year old Weidong was playing with the sliding door that separates the kitchen from the living room. My MIL was worried that her grandson would accidentally hurt his fingers as he slides back and forth. After much scolding and warning the little cutie didn’t stop, she slapped his tiny hands. Weidong cried.

Few minutes later. When my BIL went into the kitchen, his son went back AGAIN to slide the door. This time, it wasn’t back and forth. He closed it completely, turned his head and gave a cheeky smile at all the spectators. I was waiting for a big reaction from my MIL.

Instead of another slap on his hand or scolding, my MIL laughed and clapped her hands, “You naughty boy, locked Papa in the kitchen eh?” *laugh*

My BIL slided the door opened and as he stepped out, he raised his voice at my MIL, “If I’m Weidong, I’ll be so confused! When I slide the door a moment ago, you scolded me and hit me. The next moment you are clapping and cheering. How in the world would I know if it is right to play with the door or not?!”

As usual, my cannot-be-defeated MIL started to answer with her nonsensical reasoning, “Just now he was sliding it back and forth. Now he didn’t, he just close it….”

Without giving her a chance to finish, my BIL snapped, “Aiya, you just don’t want to lose, just don’t want to admit that your actions are wrong. To Weidong, be it sliding the door back and forth or just close it, its the same! He still has his hands on the door!”

MIL felt she was embarrassed infront of the whole family repeated her case again, but my BIL just walked back into the bedroom without a word, because he knows her too well. She just doesn’t want to admit that she is wrong. Since her target was not interested in the argument, she turned to the forever-harmless FIL and started her long speech. As usual, FIL didn’t say a word, just sat there and listen to all her ramblings…. *laugh*

I’m happy because I wanted to say that too! But it wouldn’t make much impact as compared to my BIL, ‘cos he is talking about his son, whereas Weidong is just my nephew…. *laugh* I’m evil in this sense…. Not that I like to see my MIL being yelled at, but its always entertaining to see her and my BIL, the 2 most temperamental beings in the family having a drama like this. *laugh*

First, it was Keatkeat with Bronchitis, then both boys were down with Hives…. and as I was taking care of my hives babies when it first struck them in April, I got so sick that I was bedridden with Glandular fever.

Now this!!?

Could this have been prevented? No! How sad. The cause of atopic eczema is not fully known. However, it was known that genes play an important part as atopic eczema often runs in families. But no one from Allan’s nor my family or our ancestors had this! It could also be due to food allergies, but he did a test before and it was proven that he is NOT allergic to any food…

So who was the lucky one this time? BINBIN! Yes, my 3year old has mild Atopic Eczema.

Its been a year…I’ve kept my silence. Went to polyclinic twice. But I wasn’t comfortable being shoved off with just a tube of $0.80 Aqueous Cream Moisturizer every time.

I don’t want to accept that. I needed a second opinion and I demanded for a referral letter to National Skin Centre. Yes, the expensive one, the specialised one, the one employer which my Dad last took his salary (as a Pharmacist) from before he passed away.

With the referral letter, instead of paying $60+, I paid $20+. Its a great place, you are offered free packet drinks almost at every counter, very comforting with nice landscape structures except for certain levels where its FORBIDDEN because it was the leprosy units.

Yes, it was one year ago, it started with the wrist area. Sometimes it peels off like a snake shedding its skin. Sometimes its just tiny pieces of skin standing up, waiting for its chance to fall off. Is it itchy? According to my 3 year old, sometimes. I noticed that he HARDLY scratch unless he is ’sweating like sweat-ducks’ (Keatkeat’s style of description).

From the wrist, it ‘peeled’ to the finger tips. Now the affected areas have increased. It has gone to the elbow and the inner-side of the elbow. Instead of on the left and its on the right too.

It peels and reveals the pinkish baby skin, leaving unsightly patches, as it contrast with the tan colour of the unpeeled areas of the active boy.

This time, Binbin was given the Aqueous Cream again but no longer in tube, its a container! On top of that, Desonwen Lotion, the stronger medicine, was given too, the damage for both were $20.15.

Spending almost $50 today and yet the verdict is still the same as those General Practitioners have said in the Polyclinic, where I just need to spend less than $10 for EVERYTHING. Paying $40 more with the same conclusion was painful….but then again, at least I got ONE additional medicine which the Polyclinic didn’t give during my previous 2 visits…that’s the only thing that make my heart feels good now….*sigh*