My easily-prone-to-accident-3-year-old had a fall on the steps yesterday. No, no, no….not the drama type, where he rolls down the steps…no…no…
He missed a step while he was going up the stairs and semi-glided himself down a couple of steps, with his shin hitting against the edges. SUPER OUCH!
The one on the top of the knee is already 3 days old, got it after a fight with Keatkeat.
Now he conveniently uses this particular bruise to remind his big brother of his less-love towards himself. - What a perfect excuse to get his big bro to give-in to him more than usual for the past few days. *Sigh*
To make things worse, he hurt his eyes last night when he was keeping the toys. The edge of a car-transporter hit the bottom of his eye.
It was so close!
Just 2mm away from his eye ball!
If only, if only, it was 2mm nearer! Oh My! I can’t imagine.
Now my boy has an ‘eye bag’ and its red! Yes, it swelled! Ouch!
Bruises like these can really be misleading! ‘Cos when I was at my parents-in-law house today (its sunday, remember?), my MIL thought I ‘abused’ my little Binbin! *Urrrrghhhh*
Despite the school’s effort to educate the kids with talks from the Ministry of Health and by giving colourful stickers like these to the kids with the important tips printed on them, the damage that too much TV-watching is not good for their eyes, still doesn’t register into their mind.
So to make them SEE the truth, this was what I did! I video-ed the cartoon ‘My Friends Tigger & Pooh’ from Playhouse Disney Channel and SHOWED them what their eyes are actually looking at!
They were shocked! They couldn’t believe that their eyes couldn’t see the disturbing waves on the TV screen. After looking at the video shot for more than 5 seconds, they couldn’t stand it and looked away.
Me: Is this nice to look at?
Boys: No.
Me: Are your eyes painful?
Binbin: Yes.
Keatkeat: I’m feeling giddy…
Me: It’s ok to watch cartoons but not for too long, because THIS IS what your eyes is REALLY looking at. Are your eyes important?
Boys: Yes.
Me: So do you want to spoil them and be like Mommy and Ah Yee (my sis) who need to wear spectacles and without spectacles we cannot see?
Boys: No.
Me: So what must you do?
Binbin: Don’t watch cartoon. (that’s what you can expect from a 3year old)
Keatkeat: No! (Eager to correct his brother) Can watch cartoon but watch a little bit.
Binbin: Orh. Can watch little bit.
Keatkeat: So can we watch this now and after this, we switch off the TV?
Me: *Nodded with a Big Smile*
The recording was done almost 1 month ago, I didn’t want to post it till I see that they really understood the message I was sending to their little growing brain. I want to see actions, I want to see improvements to the length of time they spent infront of that rectagular box.
After 1 month of observation, they did change! Now, the longest time spent on cartoons is 1hour in a row, they used to watch non-stop, till I had to interfere, even then, there were bargaining sessions before the electrical box is completely off.
Not anymore now, I no longer need to say, “You have spent hours on the TV and it’s time to switch it off now”. Ever since that video-shot, they switched off the TV by themselves after one or two 30mins cartoon programmes. *Hooray*
2+ years ago, we exchanged our petrol points for a mini bicycle for my (then) 2+ year old Keatkeat. That was his first bicycle, but it was NOT BOUGHT by his parents, it felt more like a free gift from Esso-Mobil Petrol Station. But that bike was long gone…*sigh* can’t expect much on its durability, it was a FREE item, afterall!
But not today! Today, Papa bought 2 16inch bicycles for the 2 of them! They were over the moon, or rather over the sun, ‘cos we went to the bicycle shop right after Keatkeat was off from school at 12pm!
Here they are, testing the bikes infront of the bicycle shop. Though many alterations were done, they displayed commendable patience! Alterations like, lowering the seats, changing the bells from a index-finger-controlled to a thumb-controlled, adjusting the brakes so that they are ‘more reachable’ for their short fingers and finally balancing the guiding wheels at the back.
My phone’s video quality is lousy, but I still want to capture this moment….some people use ‘Face-blurring’ technology on purpose, but mine was AUTO-Blurred by my phone and there’s NO WAY I could de-activate the function *BIG LAUGH*.
Warning! It was really windy today, so I suggest you swtich off your speakers in case you get irritated by the sound of the breeze.
So after 1hour of cycling, what was their response? Thumbs Up!
The following video was taken in 2006 April when Keatkeat was on that ‘free bike’…(WARNING! Back in 2006, the video quality of my ex-phone was even worse!) …funny Binbin was still waddling like a duck!
For those of you who didn’t read my comments on yesterday post, it was a Praying Mantis, 3/4 the size of my hand about 12cm long and today we found this super fly (that’s Binbin’s hand at the background)…. on the kitchen floor.
The 2 boys were chasing the super fly till (I think) it got exhausted and rested on the floor. That’s how I could manage to get a shot of it. Poor Fly…tortured by 2 crazy kids. Ok, enough of all these creepy crawlers or flyers.
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This morning, something unusual happened between the boys. Instead of fighting not to brush his teeth first, they were discussing who should brush first….hummm…
Keatkeat (K): “I brush first then you can see how to brush your teeth mah…”
Binbin (B): “I know already. I big boy already, you know? I know how to brush my ownself.”
K: “Ai ya, I show you, gor-gor (big brother) got go school, the nurse in school tell me how to brush properly already.”
Surprisingly the always-eager-to-win spirit in Binbin quieten down and let his brother be the teacher. All mommies who have more than 1 kid knows how often siblings fight, they could fight over the least imaginable thing, always competitive, so this is a rare sight. I ran to grab my camera, while Keatkeat was brushing his teeth.
When I was back, all ready with my small digital camera, I was ready to capture one of the most harmonious moment (I think) between the 2 boys. I wished to video it down but the video effect of my digital camera is horrible, so I could only take shots. What a shame!
K: “First, you open the toothpaste like this…”
K: “Come…give me your toothbrush…”
K: “Take. Be careful. The toothpaste may drop….”
K: “Now, brush your teeth like what gor-gor did….”
That’s Keatkeat’s gesture to my question, “So did Binbin do a good job?”
I’ve mentioned over here and here before that Binbin has a head that’s as hard as steel and his pain tolerance level is extremely high.
He can bang his head onto the sides of the opened car door, ended up with a dent on his forehead and all he did was shed a few tears.
Now I got to know my boy a little deeper…he doesn’t only have a head so hard, he had such strong teeth too!
When I saw the tile, I was expecting blood with 1 or 2 broken teeth, but there wasn’t. Binbin just sat there looking stunned, that’s all….Should I credit this to 6 months of breastfeeding for such strong teeth and bones? Hmmm….what about his threshold of pain? Is that inherited from someone….way back to my ancestors…cos’ neither Allan nor I are as ‘tolerant’ as my 3 year old? Hmmm….*Scratch head*
The rates of the taxi fares have risen tremendously especially since 17 December last year. Rates have been adjusted mainly because of the complaints from the taxi drivers, ever since more companies were allowed to share the pie. As usual there are still some black sheep among the flock. Last Saturday, my in-laws took a cab from Clementi to Hougang. The taxi driver went by a longer route, to earn more, obviously. Even when my MIL told him that he should have made a turn so that the journey is shorter, he refused and continued to drive the longer way. Both my in-laws were very angry and kept reprimanding him for (purposely) missing a few turns, then he vent his anger by driving recklessly.
The 2 old folks were with my niece, 7, and nephew, 1. When they finally reached Hougang, the meter read $22.40!!! My MIL continued to lecture him even after the taxi has arrived at the destination, for cheating on them and driving dangerously when there were 2 young kids in his cab. Humph! He deserved the lecture. 3 years ago, I used to sling Binbin over my shoulder and held the tiny hand of my 2 year old Keatkeat to my in-law house, back then it only cost $9-$10!
The rates are really getting way too high. Ever since the increase, I have completely stopped taking cabs, COMPLETELY STOPPED! Even though it takes 1 hour now for the three of us to take a bus, then a MRT, then a bus before we reach my in-laws’ house, I would rather spend this time then to pay that much! Today, my husband’s friend took a cab from Telok Blangah to Toa Payoh during peak hours, $18!!! Ridiculous! That’s the cost of a decent meal for 5 people and it’s gone in less than 20mins!
If you are a reader from another country, you made be interested to know more about this country from my previous 2 posts ‘Tough Questions’ and ‘Singapore’.
A friend of mine, Aric, who used to sell hair accessories, has decided to stop his retail business totally and give me ALL his stocks for FREE! He knows that I have stopped my handmade accessories retail business too, but is still consigning my leftovers to others, so he thought it would be better to give his remaining stocks to me than throw them into the dustbin.
The rich man son need not worry about survivor because he is the operating manager of his father’s metal manufacturing company and he is only 25 years old. Thank you Aric!
If you read My Profile, you know I love to sing. Every now and then, my kids and I will have a theme song, not that we do it on purpose, but a certain song would just keep singing in our head so much, we can’t help but sing or hum that particular tune for a couple of days or even weeks.
These days, this Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate commercial has been our song. It’s funny, especially the last verse.
Many of you know that Binbin is a vegetable lover. Recently he added a new vegetable to his long list - ONION!!!
It was so amazing and funny to watch him eat slice after slice of onion that were fried together with the main dish for presentation purposes, not so much for taste. So the slices of onions were big and hardly-cooked.
He would squint his eyes as he chew it in his mouth with a big frown on his face after he swallowed it, and you think that he regretted his decision; but no, he asked for another piece! This continues till there aren’t any onions left on that plate. *jaw-dropped*
Keatkeat’s memory power is getting more and more incredible. We could drive him to a place only ONCE and he could direct us to that place! At a cross road junction, he could tell us where it would lead us, if we turned left, turned right or went straight.
I play all sorts of memory games with him. One of my favourite game was to show him 8 cards first, then put them face down, asked him to find the 4 matching pairs and he could do it in one go. Seriously, is that amazing? I’m not sure, because I have taught many kids of this age before and I can’t remember anyone as good as this, especially the way he recognizes the direction to different places. Anyone have kids like these when they were 4 years old?
If yes, tell me, and then I will know it’s just a norm for kids of this age.
If not, could you suggest what kind of lesson should I send him to, to let this talent of him soar? If a child is musically inclined, you send him to music schools to learn singing and play musical instruments. So what about mega-memory power packed kids? Any idea?
Yes! Yes! Yes! Can you see I’m jumping up and down? Finally Syesha Mercado is going Home! I’m evil, I know.
When Ryan Seacrest said that David Cook was going to perform the last song, last night, ‘I don’t want to miss a thing’, my heart dropped. The very first time I saw this man on the TV screen, I’ve wished that he would sing this song, because it felt so him. And indeed he did a FANTASTIC JOB!
At last, my kids can tell me exactly what they liked about David Cook…
Keatkeat: “I like David Cook because he got moustache and beard.”
Its been almost a year of lying down every night on the completely worn out mattress. My boys’ mattress still looks good when its untouched but when you step on it you know the foam in it is in a terrible state.
How could it not be when it has been seasoned so many times with vomits and urine!? Yes we are pathetic, we let them sleep on those horrible mattresses, where the germs and bed bugs rest alongside with them.
We didn’t buy earlier because Binbin still have accidents occasionally at night, his urine overflowed even when he had his XL diapers on. Guess his flow was way too fast and too much for the diapers to meet his standard.
After one week of completely dry diapers in the morning, we knew it was time to get rid of their *urgh* mattresses. With the additional perk from the government last week, the Growth Dividend of $200 given out to all Singaporeans in celebration of Singapore’s exceptional economy growth last year, makes it even easier for us to afford better ones for them.
Everyone was happy, la…la..la.. we went home and in less than20 hours, Binbin realised that he is not used to sleeping on a mattress that smelled so good, he preferred the stinky old smell…..
My 3 year old was lying on his purple flowery mattress, while I applied cream to stop the itch on his bottom. I wonder if mosquitoes do selective thinking on the area of which the victim should be stung before they finally decide to poke into the skin. Well, I think they do, ‘cos Binbin always get them on his bums.
So there I was happily chatting with the little guy while rubbing my index finger around his bouncy little ass. Then nature’s most wonderful fountain appeared right before my eyes. It was yellowish, it shoots far, landed on his pillow, it was just centimetres away from his left ear, the flow was strong, was definite and showed no signs of stopping!
Look at the picture and just imagine the boy lying down (not standing) and the flow went the opposite way and you have got the exact scene I was staring at!
I was shouting “stop, Stop, STOoooooP!!!!”…it was an unreasonable demand, it was beyond his control to stop…But I want him to stop!
It came too sudden, I wasn’t fast enough to react…I was sitting there as if a kungfu master has just tapped on my you-cannot-move pulse, fully conscious but was numb all over.
Allan and I looked at each other, we wanted to scold, we couldn’t, we laughed. We laughed at the short life span of the new smell of the mattress, we laughed at the direction the urine went. Imagine, I could have had an urine-facial treatment done directly from my beloved son’s little pipe.
The pillow was soaked through and so was the bed and his body. So it was ‘Get-to-work’ at 9am in the morning with lots of washing and sunning and blowing with the hair dryer….
See my little bottle of Febreze? That’s the hero of the day! Spray on the stinky-stinko area before you sun or blow dry. As the water evaporates, the chemical brings the smell along with it. Can’t imagine what would my life be without it. *muack*
Binbin’s response to the mess he created? “Mummy, look, I got 2 eggs down here….” squeezing his God given reproductive system when we stripped him naked and ran off in his birthday suit, acting crazy………Where’s the remorse? *eyes rolled*
Angeline is my name. Friends call me kids-crazy. Children grow up so fast. Blogging helps to record down the many events and emotions shared with children who come along the way, before such moments are forgotten.
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My boy isn’t very happy.
My easily-prone-to-accident-3-year-old had a fall on the steps yesterday. No, no, no….not the drama type, where he rolls down the steps…no…no…
To make things worse, he hurt his eyes last night when he was keeping the toys. The edge of a car-transporter hit the bottom of his eye.
