Keston Chan

Cars 2 is coming to town..finally!

2011-08-11T02:33:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AT8Rf5M-uq4

It's no secret that Keston loves CARS....like most boys his age, they seem to have an invisible attraction to things with wheels, ie. cars and trains. Or rather, CARS and THOMAS. But let's get this straight, he likes Thomas but he LOVES CARS.

To fuel his addiction, we have watched the original part 1 DVD probably like a hundred times now and buy every issue of the CARS magazine to keep him interested in reading...He knows the name of all the characters, even the calefare *blink-and-you'll-miss-it* ones...!!!

Sometime last year I read that CARS 2 would be out this year and was quite excited to bring him to watch. Alas, I would have just delivered didi and be in confinement when it finally hits the big screens over here. Although his dad has promised to bring him to the movies, I am still disappointed as I would love to be there watching with him, rather than to hear him talk about it.

Catch Cars 2 movie starting from 25^th August 2011 and join the official Disney Studios Singapore Facebook & Twitter page!

Now I'm 3!

2011-07-28T01:28:00.000-07:00

My precious firstborn turns 3! A year ago this time, I was fretting about his inability to vocalise. A year on, he's now talking up a storm! It's been an interesting year seeing the little one blossom and growing into his own character.

For the most part, he's still a shy little thing. He enjoys meeting people, often requesting to go to "Mummy's friend's house" or to "See Daddy's friend", but will shy away when he sees strangers. In the privacy of family and familiarity, he's such a fun little boy. Obstinate definitely, but hilarious alot of the times.

I love talking to him every day after school as he recounts the day's happenings, from what food he ate to who was naughty in school. I do so love Keston at this age! The tantrums have dropped ever so slightly (better than nothing!) as it's easier for him to express what upsets him. That said, it is still not easy to tell him NO.

As the impending arrival of his didi looms, I've been filled with guilt for the upcoming neglect he's gonna be facing. I try to spend more time loving him, less time scolding him. And although I know it's not right, I do spoil him quite abit. For the past months I've been too lazy/tired to bathe him so his dad would have to drag a crying boy screaming "I WANT MUMMY TO PONG PONG!" into the bath. But in the final month of my pregnancy, I've been tending to his 3x daily baths. I know I won't be able to do it in the month after I pop, so I'm making up for it first :P

And although he was quite resistant to the idea of didi at first, Keston's now slowly coming around to the idea. While not quite embracing the thought, at least he accepts that it's going to happen. I do try to prepare him for the days ahead, reminding him that I won't have as much time to tend to him soon but I still love him very much. But he always ends up thinking I'm gonna be leaving him soon....sigh~

We'll see what happens.

Happy 3rd Birthday my little handsome one! Hope you'll stay the happy kiddo you are!

What would I do differently?

2011-05-18T03:02:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to and not getting down to blogging. There's so much to update-- Keston's school, developments, the coming baby, etc.

I'm now in my 25 weeks (or so, lost count :P) and I've been thinking, what would I do differently for this baby from what I did with Keston? Along the way, I must have commented a number of times "I will/won't do this if I have a 2nd baby" But now, I can't quite remember! Hmm...

New Post...finally!

2010-11-21T22:54:00.000-08:00

I am sooo backlogged on the blog front. Was thinking of writing back dating posts but then realised I honestly can't be bothered. So I'll just pick up from whatever I can remember.

Sometime in the end of October, I had a terrible gastric attack which lasted more than a week and intensified after several days. This got me landed in the A&E department, convinced that I have stomache cancer or stomache ulcer...But the doctor (2 doctors actually) insisted I was just having a bad gastric attack. So that accounted for a period of my disappearance.

Then the hubby and I decided on an impromptu trip to BKK, sans Keston. My mum graciously agreed to take care of Keston while we went on a very short trip. I didn't want to take Keston along cos on the last 2 trips we were there, I didn't get to eat all my favourite foods at my favourite haunts due to being constrained by his diet, his schedule, his naps. It was v frustrating, so this time, no Keston! We had a great time! Haha

And then when we got back, we had to complete registration for the new Kindergarten. We went when Keston was in playgroup so he still hasn't gotten to see his new Kindergarten, nor did he get measured up for his new uniform. We figured since he's quite average in size, he should probably be getting the M sized uniform. But it's HUGE. Ah well, he'll grow into it. Just this morning, HW was trying to get him to try it on and he was chasing K around with "Do you like your new Uniform?" And K was running away going "No No No No NO". So nope, he hasn't tried on his new uniform.

Last week marked the end of his schooling stint with Baby Jumper Gym. We had the PTC on Friday and while waiting for our turn, K was roughing it out in the gym. Good gracious, we (parents) haven't been into the gym in ages-- ever since we stopped the weekend classes abt a year ago. And how the boy has progressed! He used to be afraid of this long tunnel thingy and refused to get in. Now, he was scampering up and down the 2 ends non-stop. He used to need to be carried up to the top of the slide, but now he can get up both ways (rock climbing & ladder) by himself.

Teacher's remarks-wise, he has improved upon last term. He's picking up on his speech and following instructions. His 'best friend' is still Esther. We definitely need to start speaking to him more in Mandarin cos his review from Lao Shi is pretty much stagnant from the beginning. Lol. He has no interest in colouring and would just scribble across the page when asked to colour an object. He is quite good in puzzles and is fixing puzzles beyond his age. Also he likes reading books and would often ask the teacher to read to him.

Another interesting thing to note, the teachers said he's quite quiet in school so there's hardly any need for them to discipline him. Usually when we pick him up from school, he's the only one who dashes round and round the vicinity outside the centre and laughs boisterously. The teachers said he doesn't act like that in school at all and that it's a totally new side of him. I guess that just affirms his shy nature.

Oh btw, he's taking part in his school's photo contest.
Do lend him your support by voting for him here: http://www.facebook.com/#!/photo.php?fbid=165561053476277&set=a.162833730415676.34844.105312932834423

'Like' Baby Jumper Gym International.....and then 'Like' Keston's photo.

Thank you!

I'm glad we put him in this playgroup as he seems to like it there. He actually refuses to wear other tees in the morning, always insisting on "School Shirt". I think we're gonna have a tough time starting the new school next year...

家教

2010-10-26T08:37:00.000-07:00

This evening, Keston woke up from his nap all flustered as my parents' maid was in my house. He's normally quite friendly with her, but he gets pretty disoriented when he wakes up and doesn't quite like anything out of the norm. So he was crying away and I had to calm him down by asking him if he wanna go Gai gai. I'd actually thought of bringing him to BPP to shop/walk. But cos he woke up so late-- nearly 6pm, I thought we'd just roam around downstairs.

Who knows, he kept pulling me towards the guard house aka main entrance and saying "Kai Kai". I had no idea he knew gai gai means to go OUT!! We seldom use the word gai gai, especially not when we were really going out. Anyway, to distract him...I thought I'd detract him to the playground. He had a blast at the playground, although he's still not willing to play with other kids especially those around his age. There were 2 older kids (looked to be around p1 age)--a girl and a boy, hanging around and they were the only ones he didn't mind standing next to. Not on purpose lah, just that when he wants to play with something and they're standing nearby, he will still go. Whereas if there was another kid standing near the slide, he wouldn't go near at all.

The sky was turning dark and all the kids had left the playground, but Keston refused to go home. The squash court was nearby and he must have seen the aforementioned 2 kids going in with their beach ball...or maybe he heard the 'Pong Pong Pong' sound so he dragged me to the squash court. I glanced in and saw the 2 kids and another older boy throwing and kicking the beachball around the court. The door was closed, so I sat down on a bench at the side while Keston stood at the door (closed) watching them play, occasionally turning to me smiling and going "Kick ball", and then just watching intently.

Awhile later, I heard 1 of the kids saying "Why is that boy watching us?" I didn't take any notice as we were outside of the court and K was harmlessly doing nothing. A couple of seconds later, the girl came out and said loudly "Excuse me!" Thinking she was harmless, I replied nicely "Yes?" And her reply astounded me.
"Can you tell him (Keston) to stop disturbing us?"
And then she stomped back into the court before I could say anything.

Keston was clueless and did not know what happened, but continued smilingly watching the ball bounce around. I was stunned. Firstly, Keston did not do a single thing to them. He did not even make a sound. How had he disturbed them? Secondly, I could not believe that a young child will talk to an adult like that!

While these thoughts were fleeting in my mind, the girl came out once more and repeated her command "CAN YOU STOP DISTURBING US?" I couldn't even believe that it had happened the first time, and it was happening a second time. Within the same minute! I was so mad, I think I said something like "EXCUSE ME? HOW IS HE DISTURBING YOU? WHAT IS HE DOING TO YOU? CAN YOU EXPLAIN TO ME HOW HE HAS DISTURBED YOU?"
She looked abit (just a tad bit) flustered and she staggered back muttering "Ok Ok Ok". Not an apologetic OK, but more like a oh-whatever OK.

I'm not even a confrontational person normally, but this incident got me so pissed off that you can actually see steam coming out of my ears. Only after I went home, then I realised I should have asked to speak to her mother or ask her what school she goes to...or I dunno, anything! What are kids becoming these days? Could it be true that parents are so caught up in the rat race that there is no such thing as 家教 anymore?

Kindergarten Confirmed

2010-10-17T02:06:00.000-07:00

I know I'm cutting it abit fine for my 1 blogpost a week resolution. My last post was the beginning of last week and this comes at the end of this week :P I don't even have anything in particular to blog about!!!

Anyways, we have registered Keston for MCI Kindergarten. Hopefully it all goes well!

Pre-school search starts...

2010-10-04T23:55:00.000-07:00

At the end of last term, we started discussing if we wanted to let K continue with BJG next year or to ease him into his future as-yet-unchosen kindergarten's N1 class. After a quick browse in the area and comparing pros and cons, we decided that K will continue with BJG for another year and go straight to N2 thereafter.

The pros of transferring to a kindergarten:
1. Much cheaper
2. Let him get used to a new environment earlier since he's gonna end up there anyway

Cons:
1. His nightmares will probably start again
2. Morning crying for at least a month
3. Shorter schooling hours
4. Odd schooling hours (by our standards)

As I'm quite insistent that K goes to a church kindy, we checked out the only 2 down the road--

1. Bt Panjang Methodist Church Kindy
Prior to visiting, I'd read good academic reviews from current/ex-students' parents....and because it's based in a methodist church, I'd more or less decided I WANT THIS. On site, the location was, well...quite dreary. Can't blame them as the church building is rather old. The decor is pretty dated and dark. HW hated it and was like No No No...so gloomy! But academic reviews are good! On the downside, you have to be toilet-trained before entering (which our dear friend isn't)...and you have to be 30months before starting school. Which means, K can only start in February. The fees are quite reasonable, being about half of what we're paying now. It's a 3hrs programme. With all that's said and done, it is FULL. We are like #30something on the waitlist.

2. St Joseph's Church Kindy
Now this place is HUGE and AIRY and looks really really nice! The playgrounds look fun and there's ample place to run around. I've also read pretty good reviews on this place, mainly about how nice and spacious it is. I must say I was pretty sold on the place. Plus, you don't have to be toilet trained and you don't have to be a full 30months to start! The morning session's full though, but there's space in the 2nd session, which is fine by me. The fees are about $200 more than the previous kindy (but still less than what we're currently paying). Then comes the negative part. The first, glaring thing that concerned me is that the school compound faces a graveyard!! Apparently there is a graveyard within the church...and it's smack like 50metres in front of the front facing of the kindergarten section. Kids are more err...in tune with their err...senses. So I'm not sure it's such a good idea. Then, the programme is a mere 2.5hrs. So after getting over the crying bit, there mightn't be that much time left for other stuff? Also, this school advocated playing over learning. I know this is a plus point for alot of parents..but I personally prefer more learning to take place in school.

As a parent, I take precedence in the academic value of a school. HW, on the other hand, was only concerned that the place looks nice & fun. So we were split on our views. I wanted Bt Panjang Methodist...and HW wanted St Jo. In the end, obviously my view counted more....and since Bt Panjang had no vacancies...we decided to enroll him in N2 the following year. We'd continue with BJG, or so we thought...

Yesterday after picking up K, teacher Stella asked us in for a chat. I was thinking "Uh Oh! Keston got into a fight!" She was so solemn that alarm bells were ringing in our heads. Then it turned out that the school will not be operating the playgroup anymore next year. So this will be our last term there. (And we just bought a new uniform!!!!)

And so begins our frantic search for K's new future school. There's a church near where the in-laws stay and recently we've noticed that they've also got a kindy within. It's pretty near our place...but I wasn't that keen cos it's really near the ils. Anyway, we decided to check it out today.
3. The Methodist Church Of The Incarnation (MCI) Kindy
Not so keen on the name either :P As there were some renovations going on, we took forever trying to find our way in...and then we walked round and round without managing to find the office. The place is quite big (not as spacious as St Jo) and there are ALOT of students. We found out their full capacity is 170 and they're nearing full cap. K doesn't need to be toilet trained. There is still a couple of vacancies for the morning session and also for the 2nd session. Plus points first, the church/kindy is undergoing renovations at the end of the year so everything will be spanking new when we start N1 next year. There will be proper classrooms for the N1 and N2 (right now, they are partitioned using little walls/shelves. Only the K1/K2 have proper classrooms). The bathrooms will be new. There will be a new outdoor playground. Basically, the keyword is NEW. The school will be fully air-conditioned with options to be non-airconditioned when there is an epidemic. They haven't had any closure due to HFMD as yet. The fees are abit more than what St Jo is charging but it is a 3 hours programme. Also, ALL except 1 of their teachers are locals.

For now, based on what's available and what we've seen...it seems that MCI kindy is the way to go. I'm still being stubborn, and hoping for more choices to drop our way. But if I procrastinate too long, I'm sure they won't have anymore vacancies already :P

Bad sleeping habbits

2010-10-03T19:36:00.001-07:00

I've always envied mummies whose kids sleep before 10...9 even! K is a habitual late sleeper. I guess part of the problem is due to the fact that by the time we get home and bathe (myself and then him), it's already almost 10pm. He'll take his last milk feed on the bed and then roll around until he falls asleep. It used to be around 10.30pm up till a month+ ago.

Since a month or 2 ago, he started getting up to a whole heap of nonsense before sleeping. He'd insist that i turn on the light by pulling me to the light switch and going LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT, except he articulates as HEIGHT HEIGHT HEIGHT. And then he'd fumble at the door knob and 谢谢 until I open the door to let him out. He'd then look for his Daddy and get him to bring in a toy, and then 2...and then 3! It was slightly ridiculous at first as he wouldn't stop playing until we all laid down on the bed with him. At that time he was sleeping after 12 midnight!

After awhile, he started 'stabilising' to 3 toys each night. It's always the same 3 toys. First, it will be a book....next, his doctor set...and lastly, his Hot Wheels set. We couldn't stop him from playing his toys...so we started limiting him to 5 minutes each toy and gradually to 1 minute. By then, he was just going through the motion of emptying the toys on the bed and then putting them back into the packaging/box!

But for the past few days, he's miraculously stopped asking me to turn on the light after his milk...and he's stopped asking to go out to get his toys. Although he's still sleeping at 11-12....it's a lot less tiring than having to keep getting up to open the door (because he insists on shutting the door everytime he goes in and out of the room).

I was very pleased with this improvement and rewarded him with a sticker for his sticker book. Last night, I made the mistake of showing him a new Thomas book we bought and he insisted on bringing into the room. But he didn't insist on turning on the light so he just fumbled around with it in the dark and gave it to me shortly. Again, I was pleased that he's become more 懂事 ...but after 15mins of not falling asleep, he suddenly grabbed the book again and went LIGHT LIGHT LIGHT. Uh-oh!

Instead of turning on the light, I told him "Do you remember Mummy gave you a sticker today? Cos you were so good the last few nights, you went to sleep without all your nonsense....Do you still want to be a good boy? Do you still want a sticker tomorrow?" Surprisingly, he looked at me solemnly, handed over the book and laid down again!!

A blog post a week

2010-10-02T23:56:00.000-07:00

I'm resolving to blog more.
A post a day would be pushing it...so I'm gonna aim for once a week instead. Let's see how long it lasts :P

Another school excursion

2010-09-03T09:18:00.000-07:00

On the last week of every school term, K's school will have a school excursion. This term, they were going to the Zoo. As always, we eagerly signed him up. Teacher Stella asked if any of us would be accompanying K and we said No. Privately, we did discuss tailing them to make sure nothing went wrong.

This was when I realised that we had very different parenting attitudes. HW, on the outside, seems like a 'harder' parent. I probably come across as a doting mum. In actual fact, I am very laid back and HW is the more kan cheong one. When K kenna HFMD from infantcare, HW's immediate reaction was to withdraw him from infantcare. I was like "Huh? Must withdraw ah?" On this occasion, even though we both agreed not to tail them, HW will keep bringing up the issue every 5 mins "Sure we're not following?"...."What if he runs around and falls down?"...."So many kids, the teachers can handle or not?"....and so on...I would usually give an exasperated sigh and tell him everything will be fine....the teachers know what they're doing, blah blah.

And then when I was blog hopping, I found a mummy saying she did not allow her son (who was just short of turning 3) to go on an excursion because it was not parent-accompanied, citing "(name) is not even THREE!"

Oh dear, and there I am, rejecting a chance to accompany K on his excursion....and he's just turned TWO! Oh wait...I already let him go on a school excursion alone when he was just 22months!!! What must people think of me?

Baby Race

2010-08-22T23:30:00.000-07:00

A while ago, HW and I were commenting about how Keston never walks, but runs everywhere...and how fast he is. Then HW said we should enter him in a baby race. A couple of days later, we spotted an ad on the newspaper for ExplorerKid's Fastest Baby & Junior race and signed Keston up.

The Contest was to be held on 21st August at D'Marquee at Downtown East. The organizing was kind of shabby since we were not informed of the time until a day before the event, and it was not possible to plan anything beforehand.

Anyways, we thought it would be a straightforward race in the sense that he's gonna be running from Daddy to Mummy or vice versa. And we'd discuss to who he should be running towards.(Mummy of course!)

The event was supposed to be from 2-5pm and we were told to register by 1.30pm. The boy usually naps around 1.30pm, so we thought he'd just have a short nap on the way there....and nap again after his race. Keston fell asleep about 15mins before we reached Downtown East. And we let him sleep up to 30mins before waking him up as it was 1.30pm already. Registered and was told his event was at 3.00pm!? WTF? Ask us to go so early for what? I guess they wanted everybody to be around, to create an atmosphere...but 1.5hrs of wasted time when he could be taking his beauty sleep??? Nevertheless, the kiddo set unleased was a happy camper. He had a good time running round the hall and climbing the barricades (after observing another kid doing the same). But by 2.30pm, he was bored as hell and wanted to get out of the place. We had to bribe him with banana and cookies to keep him around!

We were registered for Category D, as he'd just missed the cut-off for Category C (1.5-2yrs old) by about 2/3 days! Darn. He was one of the youngest in Cat D for sure. And then we were told that it wasn't a straight forward race. Firstly, only 1 parent is allowed at the end line. He is to stand at the starting point alone. Secondly, he had to run to a box in the middle of the lane to pick out a coloured ball from amongst white balls. And then run to the end line.

Uh-oh. Firstly, we weren't sure that he would be willing to stay at the start line alone. Secondly, balls are his weakness! Would he pick just 1? Would he pick the correct one? Would he just sit there and play with the balls?

Thankfully, the coloured ball was green. And it's one of the colours he knows. So he understood us perfectly when we told him to pick up the green ball. And also luckily the lane marshall was a young lady so he didn't mind standing with her. When the whistle blew, he was stunned for a moment (cos nobody mentioned to him that he was supposed to start running when the whistle blew haha). But then we screamed GO! And off he sped to the ball, picked up the correct ball and dashed to mummy~ ! He did very very well, even if I say so myself.

Watch 3:04 of RazorTV's capture

After the race, the RazorTV reporter wanted to interview us, but the boy sped off for another round! Haha...he doesn't know it's a one-off so he went off to the start line and ran down the middle, picked up the ball again.....................................*face palm*

Since another round of contestants were coming around, we had to grab him away, flailing arms and all. We left right after his race so we don't know if he would have won anything. From what we saw, he did seem like one of the fastest there...but in any case, he's a winner in our eyes. We were just so proud that he listened to instructions and completed the race.

Mummy!

2010-08-13T18:10:00.000-07:00

Keston has FINALLY called Mummy....you cannot imagine my relief as he's been calling everyone else, everyone except me! And seeing as he's such a mummy's boy, it's been really odd!

But finally it's happened!

Happy 2nd Birthday

2010-07-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

Yadda yadda yadda

2010-07-27T02:10:00.000-07:00

So it's finally happened. The speech fairy has finally decided to pay K a visit. Ever since the last post, his golden mouth seems to have come unstuck and he's spurting out new words exponentially.

Although not quite up to standard with his peers who've started speaking much earlier, it's a huge improvement from just 1 month ago!

Vocab
1. Ball
2. Bird
3. Duck
4. Apple
5. Pear
6. Daddy
7. Por Por
8. Mama
9. Please
10. Cheese
11. Bread
12. Horse (Hor)
13. Car
14. Girl
15. Baby
16. Bye Bye
17. No No
18. Bear
19. Sheep (Baaah)
20. Egg
21. Up
22. Go
23. Book
24. Block
25. Eat
26. Home
27. Dog (used to be Ahh Ahh but changed to Dog, though he still alternates)
28. Cat
29. Cake
30. Star
31. Bubble (Babu)
32. Pig
33. mum mum
34. cup
35. clock
36. bao bao
37. gong gong (ge ge)
38. yeye
39. frog (croc)
40. Bee
41. Black
42. Blue
43. Green

I can't remember if there are more..will update as and when I think of any.

There are also several others that he makes consistent sounds to indicate...like,
1. Train (Mmm Mmm- high pitch)
2. Cow (Mmmmmmm)
3. Bus (Diah)
4. Elephant (Eh+mumbojumbo)

Ever since we watched Leap Frog, he's been more interested in his Alphabets.
He can repeat most of the phonics...and he recognises the letter T for sure. Everywhere he goes, once he sees the letter T on signboards, magazines, etc..he will point and go Tte! He also recognises B, P, L on ad-hoc basis.

He can't seem to pronounce MI and refuses to say Mummy :(

Car & Daddy

2010-07-08T08:10:00.001-07:00

After weeks of shouting 'HAR!' at cars...Keston's finally said CAR correctly.

On the very same day, Keston also calls Daddy accurately now. No more Dada or Dadadadadadee...just plain old DAIR-DI! HW's mightily pleased...but what about Mummy??????

For a week or 2 now, Keston's been going GER GER everytime he sees cheo girls on tv, newspaper, mags....and even girls in his story books. Only the pretty ones though. Hum Sup boy!

Will work for food

2010-07-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Keston has always been food-motivated. When we wanted him to learn to sign, we'd use food as the bait. If he wanted to eat something, he'd do basically anything!

Whenever food is involved, his understanding of instructions suddenly powers up and he miraculously does whatever he's told. Well, almost everything anyway.

In his vocally challenged state, and even with the fistful of words he knows...he rarely says stuff we want him to say. For eg, when he sees a bird fly past, he will always spontaneously call out BIRD BIRD. But if we were to point it out to him and ask him what is it, he'd only sometimes respond. If we were to ask him "Say Bird Bird", he'd refuse flat out.

But if he was waiting for some snack, he'd repeat everything we want him to say with no hesitation....
Say Bird
BIRD BIRD
Say Duck
DUCK DUCK
Say Mama
MAMAMAMA
Say Papa
PaPa
...etc.

Anyway, I digress. This post is not actually about him learning through food.

When K doesn't have school, it is fairly easy to get him to nap after lunch. We know that he's full and thus, ready to sleep.

But when K comes back from playschool after lunch, we're never sure of his hunger level. We're pretty sure he is not fed enough at lunch (yet he doesn't ask for more) cos he will ask for milk, which he doesn't usually drink after lunch. After the milk, he'd still look like he want more food and will have a bao or a slice of banana&nut bread. Sometimes I don't think he's hungry but he doesn't mind having more food. On most occassions he'd want to end it all with cheese. The problem is, he doesn't stop at 1 slice...he'd whine for a 2nd slice and then a 3rd!!

So we started cutting the slice of cheese in half and giving him in half pieces. Whenever he asks for another slice, I'll tell him to "Lie down, don't move" and I'll make the whole motion of going out to the kitchen to get him more. The reason I tell him not to move is cos my laptop is usually on the bed and he would end up pounding on it. However, whenever he's waiting for cheese or milk(at night), he wouldn't mess with my stuff. He'd lie there quietly waiting for me to come back. Last week I started not coming back!

I decided he didn't look hungry and so I just stood outside the ajar door and peeped at his feet, and I'd stretch abit and peep at his chest to see the breathing patterns. I had to be very careful not to look at his face cos he'd see me then! And sure enough, it took him less than 5 minutes to fall asleep!

I've done it almost everyday now and he falls asleep within 5 minutes without fail once I leave the room. If I'm in the room, he'd be dancing on the bed, jumping on me and all sorts of nonsense!!! Yesterday he woke up from his nap remembering that I didn't give him his cheese and asked me again. Seeing as he hadn't completed his requisite min 3 hrs nap, I told him I was gonna get it for him and just stood outside the door until he passed out again. haha! So terrible, but it works!

Encounters of the bat kind

2010-06-11T23:44:00.000-07:00

Last Friday, on reaching home, I had to fit back the freshly laundered carseat cover so HW took Keston upstairs first. When I got up, HW was carrying Keston standing near the door and was very tense. He told me there's a bat in the house and Keston is very scared. So the first thing I did was to carry Keston into my room, turned on the aircon and closed the door. Now, whenever Keston's in my room, he'd go crazy playing with my laptop, dancing and running on the bed, climbing up and down, etc. This time, he kept perfectly still in the position I put him. I kept assuring him that there's nothing to be afraid of and I'll be right back.

Back in the living room, I haven't seen the bat yet and was still in disbelief. I asked HW if he was sure it wasn't a big moth! And then the mighty bat took a short flight, batwings and all, onto the sofa. It tried to burrow itself into the folds of the sofa, I think to seek solace in the darkness. We turned on all the lights and opened the windows...well, HW did. I sunk in a corner screaming out instructions! Every now and then I'd go back into the room to check on Kes and he'd still be sitting in the exact same position, expressionless. It was very very odd behaviour for him. Nevertheless, we had a bat to capture.

While HW was out there keeping watch on the bat, I googled for ways to deal with the bat. I mean, who knows what to do? It's not like you meet a bat everyday, or even every year! HW wanted to whack the bat but heck, it's an animal not an insect...how can? Anyway the internet says to just leave the windows open and eventually the bat will fly away. Huh? What if it doesn't fly away....what if it is still in the house, and appears again the next day? Scrap the idea.

The next solution was a more feasible, yet scarier, option. We had to find a box, use it to cup the bat, and then get a cardboard piece to slot in at the bottom to encase the bat. So I ran around the rooms looking for boxes to slice up. And then came the difficult part-- how to cover the bat when it was currently nestled between the backing and seat of the sofa???

I was scared, but HW was also scared. He kept asking me if shining a torchlight at the bat will kill the bat! haha...really think it's a vampire ah??? He kept asking me to remove the cushions so he can cup the bat, but I die also don't want to be in such close proximity with the bat. So after loads of shouting and shifting the responsibility, he finally managed to yank all the cushions off the sofa and cup the bat.

And then he didn't dare to slot in the cardboard piece underneath. Cos in doing so, the box on top would have to be lifted slightly and we were afraid the bat will wriggle out from the resulting gap. So after loads of trial and error (with an empty box), we finally captured the bat.

The whole process took more than an hour. And in that time, Keston sat in the exact spot on my bed. He did not make a single sound nor movement. His whole body was cold and occassionally he'd tap his chest to signify 'scared scared'.

Finally we had to dispose the bat but none of us wanted to walk too far away with it, or *gasp* let it go in the open. What if it flies back into the house? So we left the box covered on the stairs outside the house, ran home and shut all the windows!!

Keston was obviously in shock....and he became feverish. It took alot of coaxing before he snapped out of it. Before that, he acted like his soul left his body. It was that scary.

The next day, he developed a high fever and vomited out his lunch. He'd take 2 spoons and vomit. Take another 2 spoons and vomit. The doctor said he got a stomache virus. But we think it's the aftermath of shock. In the next few days, Keston totally shunned solids. We were told not to give him milk, but it was the only thing he'd take. But a few times, he'd drink milk and vomit out again. Sigh.

It's been a week but his appetite is not back yet. Sure lose weight!

At 22mths 1wk, he's 12.1kg

Parents-Teachers Conference

2010-05-28T00:52:00.000-07:00

On the 27th of May, we had our first PTC aka Meet the teachers session.

This was our chance to find out more about how Keston was doing in school and how he's progressing. He didn't get a very good report book due to his inability to vocalise. Teacher Stella said none of the boys in the junior class were talking yet, which is a small consolation. Overall, he seems to be adapting ok in class. He tends to run around, not wanting to sit down (as expected). He enjoys the outdoor activities, singing and dancing and he's started feeding himself (we don't really let him try at home cos too mafan :P) and he has a girl looking after him in school. We were told this little girl in the senior class has been making it her responsibility to take care of him ever since he started school. She'll bring him toys, sayang him...and even FEED him!!!! Hahaha...hilarious! We've seen her after school and sometimes she comes over to stroke Keston's arm before leaving with her grandpa.

Teacher mentioned that we should try to stop his signing so he will need to talk to get what he wants/needs.

Hopefully we'll have a less painful transition period when school starts next term. And hopefully Keston will start talking. Soon! Ball, Duck, Bird, Mama, Papa, There, Dada, is not quite enough!

Firsts

2010-05-23T08:48:00.001-07:00

It's been a week of firsts.

On Thursday, when we reached school and HW was getting Keston out of the car seat...the little bugger did not start whining/wailing. Instead, he waved at me and gave me a flying kiss. When HW put him down in the class, he did not cling on either and gamely waved and blew kisses at HW. I was ecstatic and updated on my FB..but later on feared that I'd probably jinxed myself. Too late!

Thankfully Friday went the exact same way. Our kid has finally gotten accustomed to school!!!

For a long long time, one of my main worries, aside from his speech delay..is that Keston does not drink from a straw. I tried all sorts of straw (spongy type, regular Macdonalds type, fat bubble tea type, teeny yakult type...) and all he'd do is chew on the straw. Believe me, I tried all the techniques of dripping juice/water into his mouth and blah blah blah. But nothing worked! Once the straw was in his mouth, he'd chew till it went to bits.

Although I was fretting quite abit, I must admit I wasn't very consistent in getting him on the straw. I'd try relentlessly for 2 days and give up for the next month...and then start worrying and make him try for a day and then give up for the next month!

Knowing that he would never start sucking cos he'd rather bite..my obvious solution would be to get him a steel or glass straw. But I never got down to it....also, HW keeps insisting that he's gonna bite the glass and there would be glass bits in his mouth.

Anyway a while ago, I saw this cute Mickey Mouse straw cup from The First Years on Amazon and read that the straw was the hard type. So what the hell right? Another straw cup to add to my collection....I received the package a couple of weeks ago but couldn't be bothered to let him try. On Friday, I was abit free so I gave it to him and voila~ HE DRANK FROM THE STRAW!!!!
So yah, Keston's finally drinking from the straw at almost 22months!

Mean girl

2010-05-14T08:10:00.000-07:00

Because HW brings Keston into class everyday, he gets to interact more with the other children. Afterwards, I'd hear about which kids liked to sayang Keston...which girls stroked his face...which boys played with him...

But there is 1 girl in particular that HW dislikes. On Keston's first week, when HW tried to settle him in class by giving him a toy to play with. This girl, J, glared at him and said "NO" then grabbed the toy away. HW was annoyed and kept droning on about how rude this girl was. When we picked up Keston, we happened to see J's grandma bringing her home. HW went "That's the girl! Recognise her face!" I was like...why?? He said "Then you can stare at her whenever you see her!" Haha...so childish right? I told him maybe Keston also snatches things from her in class?

On another occasion when Keston and another girl were crying relentlessly when being dropped off....J came in front of them and scolded them (complete with hands on hips action) "PLEASE KEEP QUIET!" while the rest of the kids would say "Baby don't cry". Again, HW was annoyed.

The 3rd occasion came when he brought K into the classroom...Another boy called out "Keston" and gave Keston a toy to play with. J came forward to stop the boy and shouted "NO!"HW couldn't hold it in anymore and asked her "Why No?" She said "Police catch!"
"Why Police catch?"
"Because they naughty!"

.....

So on our way to school everyday HW will tell Keston "If J scolds/bullies you, you scold her back ok?"

3rd week of Play school

2010-05-05T09:01:00.000-07:00

Alamak! Just realised I haven't even blogged about Keston's first week of school and we've already reached week 3!!!

Week 1 was tough. On the first day, he actually didn't cry much cos he didn't realise he was gonna be left alone for 4 hours. On the 2nd day, he started crying as soon as Daddy took him out from the carseat. The 3rd day, he started recognising landmarks and would start crying once he realised we were enroute to school. Also on the 3rd day, he had the most horrendous nightmare/night terrors and woke up wailing at 2am. Nothing in the world could get him to stop crying, nothing in the world could get him to go back to sleep. In the end, I relented and played Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to calm him down. Worked a charm and he stopped crying. But everytime an episode ended, he'd threaten to turn on the waterworks. He refused to let me turn off the tv and sat there watching tv till 4 am, when daddy woke up and scolded him. He finally agreed to go back to the room but sat there tossing and turning till he finally fell asleep at 5am. Needless to say, we were very VERY late for school.

The whole of the first week, I had a hard time adjusting his routine. Although he'd had lunch in school at 11.30, he still seemed hungry at 12.30 after school. So after a quick bath, he would eat his full bowl of porridge. And then the whole world would come tumbling down cos he'd refuse to step into the room to nap. He'd play for abit and then start getting frustrated with everything-- his toys, me, himself. I'd endure the wailing, whining, struggling (when I try to carry him). Nothing works! He'd fly into a major tantrum and nothing could appease him. He'd look terribly sleepy but simply refused to nap. Finally at around 3pm, I'd give him his milk and he'd fall asleep drinking the milk. His afternoon naps were fretful as well and he kept jolting awake... I had to keep watch beside him to make sure he gets at least 3 hours of sleep (or he would wake up pissed off). This happened consecutively for the whole week.

The 2nd week, I decided that he probably doesn't need the additional lunch and is probably overstimulated, hence the crankiness. So, after school, he goes straight into the bath and would get his milk immediately. This seems to be the perfect formula as he'll guai guai and calmly fall asleep by 1.30pm.

Thankfully this worked out cos frankly, I could not handle his afternoon crankiness for the 1st week and was screaming and yelling at him all the time to SHUT UP and GO TO SLEEP! Baby crying + Mummy screaming...I can't imagine what the neighbours must think! :P

School-wise...the 2nd week, he seems to be adjusting better. Not crying so much during class, and starting to participate in class activities. He's still crying everyday when daddy drops him off in class. Daddy tries to settle him in class first before leaving but he will always cry when daddy goes off. Daddy has reported that alot of little girls like to surround Keston, singing around him, giving him toys and sayanging him, telling him not to cry. So sweet right?

But the little boy probably gets freaked out by people stroking his face, so he continues to cry. Sigh. Got girls sayang, still cry? Big already won't have such privilleges liao!

In case you're wondering, Mummy doesn't drop him off for class cos he's so sticky to mummy that he will cry even harder and hold on even tighter. We're still hoping for the day he happily waves bye bye and runs into class himself.

I hate cold calls!

2010-04-27T01:57:00.000-07:00

I really hate cold calls. Especially when they start off with a chirpy GOOD MORNING! HOW ARE YOU? in a Filipino accent. So I usually don't answer the phone when I don't recognise the number.

Yesterday my phone rang when K was in school. Thinking it might be from the school, I answered.

Caller: (China Accent) 你好！我们是艺全语文学校。
Me: What?
Caller: (sounding annoyed) 我说我这里是艺全语文学校。
Me: Yes?
Caller: 我们学校。。。
Me: 我的儿子还小，还不到上学的年龄。
Caller: Oh 我们也有CHAR CARE。。。
Me: 我们不上childcare。
Caller: 那我们也有 Kindergarten。
Me: 他才1岁半！！！
Caller: 18个月吗？
Me: Yes
Caller: 那我们有CHAR CARE!
Me: (damn annoyed) 我们不上Childcare!!!

Playschool

2010-04-19T00:48:00.001-07:00

Ever since Keston's very traumatic and very short stint in Infantcare a year ago, school became a forbidden word in the household. I don't talk about it cos I know the pils will jump at the chance to ~~dump~~put him in childcare. We don't even talk about nursery or kindergarten!!

But as Keston turned 18mths, with no improvement to his oral communications...and with the added pressure of reading about other kids going to playgroups, we talked about it again. There were 3 main choices for us-- the cheap 2 hrs type that are held in childcare centres, Montessori types and BJG where Keston once attended weekend classes.

Our main aims for sending him to playgroup are:
(a) Socializing with other kids
(b) Learn something...anything
(c) Be abit more independent

Childcare Centre Playgroup
Pros:
Cheap
2 hours only (so if he spends the whole time crying, it's not thaaaat long)

Cons:
Combined with childcare, so much more sick bugs about
Not really learning-based
If he spends 2 hours crying, there wouldn't be any time left to socialise/learn/interact!

Montessori Playgroup
Pros:
Usually 1.5-2 hours (again, if he were to spend the whole time crying..it's not so bad)
Learning through play sounds interesting
Not attached to childcare, less viruses

Cons:
Got the impression that there may be too much independence since each kid basically plays what he/she wants to. Defeats the purpose of socializing.
Not cheap
What exactly do you learn? He already does alot of those building, matching games at home.

BJG
Pros:
4 hours programme (after spending some time crying, still got leftover time to do stuff!)
We like the programme they offer-- wholebrain stimulation
Not attached to childcare, less viruses

Cons:
Not cheap
It's 4 hours! Does he really need to be in school for 4 hours at this age?? Even nursery's only 2-3 hours! What if he spends all 4 hours wailing?

So, in the end we decided on BJG as we feel they have a good wholesome learning programme. The 4 hours was our only vice as it does seem a tad too long. Playgroup, or rather, Playschool starts 19th April 2010.

My possessive boy

2010-04-12T01:59:00.000-07:00

When K was just a little baby, I witnessed HW's nephew protesting when his mummy was carrying K. I was amused and confident that Keston wouldn't be so possessive. Afterall, he was perfectly fine with me playing with the other kids during his babyjumpergym classes.

Boy was I wrong. Fast forward a few months. The first time I witnessed his possessive-maniac streak was when I met up with Shimin and baby Ryan when K was just over 18months. As baby Ryan was learning to cruise, he'd hold on to his mummy's knees for support and cos my knees were nearby, he accidentally/occasionally cruised over to my knees. K immediately displayed territorial aggression by roughly shoving Ryan's hands away from me. I was amused but also pai sey by his rude gesture.

A while later, I was in the library browsing for books to borrow and another toddler came and stood very close to me. He was probably curious about the book I was holding since K was happily running all over the place. K's antennas immediately stood up and immediately came over to stand in between us. He looked at the boy with animosity and a short while later, snatched the book that the poor kid was holding.

During our trip to Taiwan, we met up with an acquaintance who has a daughter a few months older than K. The girl, S, was rather keen on K and would keep calling out '弟弟来!' whenever he ran out of her range of view. And when we were back in her father's office, she was watching a cartoon on the computer when she pushed a chair beside her and said ‘弟弟坐!' She was rather aggressive though and K seemed abit afraid of her. But when I tried to take photos of the 2 little tykes, S came close to me to look at herself in my camera. K turned into a green monster yet again and charged at her to grab her shoulders. HW and I thought he was bring affectionate and just smiled, while to our horror we saw him holding her still by the shoulders and then trying to headbutt her. Thankfully we were close enough and managed to stop him in time. S, on the other hand, thought he was playing with her and giggled gregariously.

During this trip, we'd occasionally hear Keston whining/protesting about something unknowingly. Somehow we discovered it always happened when he sees us holding hands. He'd get very angry and pry away HW's fingers, then entwine his fingers with mine or hug my hand. He also gets mad when he sees that I'm not the one pushing his stroller, he'd then insist that I hold his hand whenever HW's pushing him. Wah lau eh, my hands no longer belong to me!

Not that we have any plans, but should we have a #2, I'm afraid he'll strangle him/her in the middle of the night.

6D5N Taiwan trip

2010-04-08T23:34:00.000-07:00

Before I got pregnant with Keston, we'd booked a skiing holiday to Korea. However, a short while later we discovered the pregnancy and decided to cancel the trip. Thus we were stuck with $1600 deposit with Chan Brothers . The expiry date for the deposit to be utilised was supposed to be when Keston was a few months old. We then asked for it to be extended till Keston was abit older...March was the last extension date given to us. While it meant that we had to utilise the amount by 31st of March, HW insisted that we travelled before 31st March in case of any complications in the terms and conditions.Our initial plan was to do a self-drive in Australia. But it's supposed to be pretty hot now and we were afraid Keston would get even tanner than he is. So the plan was scrapped and we decided on Taiwan.
I was supposed to plan the itinerary since we were going F&E...but I'm such a procrastinator that the whole itinerary actually came out only a day before we departed!!! The hotel in Taipei was booked a month before and the accomodations in Taichung, less than 2 weeks before we arrived! Please don't leave any organising to me. I suck!

DAY 1:

Keston fell asleep when the plane was taxiing off. We were silently celebrating and hoping he'd sleep through the meal time at least. Alas, he woke up after only 1 hour! 1 HOUR!? I'd expected him to nap for 3 hours! Aghh..the rest of the journey was a mild nightmare as he insisted on climbing up my lap, pulling out all the reading materials in the pocket in front of us and our neighbour. The SQ toy was a Ben10 felt figurine and a stencil set. He wasn't interested in either. His toy cars kept him occupied for like 10 seconds...we'd brought along a bowl of his porridge but he still wanted our bun and ice-cream. Tried to let him watch the cartoons on the in-flight entertainment but he wasn't interested. Finally whipped out the netbook and let him watch Mickey Mouse, which did the trick. By that time though, it was nearly time to start the descend and we had to switch off all electronics. Thankfully he didn't kick up a fuss when we kept the netbook away.At the airport, the Freego counter told us the last bus that transfers to our hotel has departed already and that their bus will only send us to 庆泰饭店, after which we had to cab it to our hotel at approx NT100. At that moment, it didn't even occur to me to take the Guoguang bus instead which would get us to Taipei main, which is not that far. We went up the Freego, plenty of space. Along the 1 hour journey, the little one was climbing and standing on the chair and playing/disturbing the couple behind us. Finally, I gave him a bun to munch on..and he fell asleep while eating. The transfer cab, btw, took us almost NT200. So it really wasn't worth it to take the Freego.The weather was fantastically cold...like being in a small room with the aircon on at 16 degrees and high fan speed. We were abit worried that we were under-dressed as HW was in berms and ts, I was in jeans..the little one was dressed in the most clothes, with berms, tee, leg socks and a pullover. Still his hands were very cold. The locals, on the other hand, appeared to be over-dressed in fur coats, bomber jackets, scarves, boots...basically winter wear!

Our hotel, 内江商旅 was diagonally across from the main Ximending square. Our room was in the new wing and it was quiet, clean, spacious and new! Quite impressed, especially since our first choice was Rainbow hotel (which is smack in the middle of XMD) but Rainbow is much smaller and older and slightly more expensive.

Asked the hotel recep for directions to 桃源街 to try their famed Beef Noodles but she recommended us to a nearer place called 牛店。The beef was really very tender and succulent and the soup was very tasty. Not cheap though, a small bowl costs NT150.

DAY 2:

Keston decided to wake up late..by 9+ he was still sound asleep so we had to wake him up for his milk and bath. Then we set out on our journey to Bitan and Wulai. The weather was still pretty cold.

Bitan basically looks like a reservoir....I'm not sure what it is supposed to be or symbolise. But it's just a nice nature-type place.

We took the bus up to Wulai. There were very few seats on the bus and most were occupied by elderly people from 50-80?? So I hadn't expected to be offered any seats though I was carrying Keston in the ergo. I was surprised that a 60ish uncle ushered me to his seat. The little boy fell asleep soon as the journey was a very rocky ride up the mountainous area. The boy continued sleeping as we walked through Wulai old street and had a stick of Taiwanese sausage made of wild boar. Tasty. Then when we sat down in a restaurant for lunch, he got awaken and bawled loud enough for the whole street to hear! I quickly brought him outside for a walk and came back for our meal. The food was nondescript. Expensive and nothing to shout about. The little monkey decided to take a dump halfway through the meal and we tried to finish up our meal before finding a place to change him. BIG mistake. It was a huge poop and had leaked out to his jeans by the time we changed him. Luckily we'd brought an extra change along, even though HW packed his pj pants (instead of the track pants that I prepared), which was v thin!! But still, better than nothing lah. HW's face turned black when his hand accidentally touched the poo and he was fussing about K's poo stained jeans. Luckily when he came back from the loo, Keston flashed him a big mega smile and called out Dada! And his mood changed for the better again.The Wulai waterfall is abit of a waste of time. But since we were there, just go and see lor. Basically, go Wulai once enough already...won't go again.Our attempts to find Gong Guan and Shida night market was pretty dreadful. Walked about everywhere but somehow didn't seem to be in the correct place. Had our dinner at some shop in Shida area. HW's mood turned black again cos we'd spent a whole hour in 7-11 @ Wulai applying for a prepaid SIM card. And the line was to be activated in 2-3 hours, but it wasn't still yet activated and the operator told him that he didn't submit his IC to the lady at 7-11! We were hopping mad cos he gave his IC and passport to the woman and somehow she photocopied his passport and customs declaration card, instead of the IC!! And she spent 1 hour just doing the photocopying!! She was so damn slow and yet, still can miss things out! The operator wanted us to go back to Wulai, which was impossible since we're so far away already and it's nighttime. HW's chinese isn't very good either, so he got v frustrated. In the end, we came to a compromise to go to a nearby 7-11 and have them fax his IC over to the Wulai 7-11. We had to pay for the fax but the lady here was very efficient and helpful and called Wulai to check if they got everything and if they'd fax his details straightaway to the call centre, blah blah. His mood got so horrendous that he started screaming at the operator when he was told that his line would be activated in another 8 hours. So I had to take over the call and calm things down..it was a very long phone call but I managed to get them to activate the line straightaway. So all was well again. Why we needed the sim card was cos we had to arrange a meet up the next day and confirm our daytour on the following day. Plus, his parents will nag for the whole nation when they can't contact us.

DAY 3:

We'd arranged to meet a business acquaintance for lunch at 12noon...so we let Keston wake up late again. We had to check out of the hotel as we were going to Taichung in the evening. Spent the morning just strolling about Ximending as we didn't want to have to rush back. All the shops were closed so it was very boring. Friend arrived with his whole family only at 12.30.

There seemed to be a jam everywhere and we reached our lunch venue close to 2. It was a fabulous lunch though, at 泰市场, in the Eslite building. It's got a fabulous international seafood buffet spread, not just Thai food. By the time we were done with the meet up, it was already evening time so we had no chance to go to Wufenpu. We were only just on time to hop on the 7.06pm train. Again, we had the netbook to keep Keston entertained through the 1hr train ride. I must say the HSR train is really very nice and comfy. Loads of leg room and its clean, quiet and smooth.

From the train station, there was a free shuttle bus to where our 民宿was located. There was supposedly a bus at 8.25pm so we rushed to the waiting area....and waited..and waited...and waited!!! The bus only came at 8.45pm!! The bus journey was another 30mins to Fengjia University. The owner of Tomato Rooms came to meet us and gave us directions to get to the building. Prior to the trip, we'd book their cheapest double room at NT1050/night. When we checked in, Tweety the owner told us she'd upgraded us to the suite so we'd be more comfy with the little one! So sweet right? The suite is supposed to be NT1680/night. In the end, she only charged us NT2000 total for the 2 nights. Don't understand and didn't question her calculation :P

The room is located in an apartment building with a security guard up front. You need your key to scan through the door to the lift as well as to actually use the lift. Very safe! And the room was seriously fantastic! It's basically a studio apartment and is very tastefully done up with a 360 degrees flat screen tv, living room, kitchenette, balcony, king size bed, etc. And when we asked them if there was wireless there, they promptly set up a wireless modem in the room for us. Talk about service!

DAY 4:

The reason why we'd travelled down to Taichung was cos we wanted to visit the farms in Miaoli. I'd wanted to organise a stay at the farm, but transport was getting to be such a headache that I searched for a day tour instead. I found a local company, Marshal Tour that picked us up from our apartment and brought us on a day tour to the animal farm and various spots in Miaoli.

It was a private tour so it was pretty much own time own target. The driver doubled as the guide, who was informative and polite. We had fun being tourists and it was relaxing not having to fret about our bags, transport, food, etc.

On our way back to the apartment, we asked the driver to bring us to 太阳堂 as I'd heard this was the famous shop to get 太阳饼 in Taichung. This has got to be the biggest joke of the trip. The driver/guide promptly informed us there are alot of 太阳堂 and did we have a particular one in mind. I thought he meant they had alot of branches and so I said any branch will do. Only when he brought us the the row of shops, did I know what he meant. Because 太阳堂 is so famous, many other shops also named themselves 太阳堂 -- so there was 太阳堂老店，太阳堂总店，太阳堂自由路，etc!!! He told us how at first 太阳堂 differentiated themself by placing sunflowers outside their shop. But when the tourists came, every other shop also started placing sunflowers outside. Then the real shop painted sunflowers on their walls...and every other shop did the same! I totally forgot I wrote down the address of the real 太阳堂 so we randomly went into 3 different shops to buy a box each. The 1st shop kept asking us to buy more but HW refused cos we wanted to try other shops. The 2nd shop kept bitching to us about the 1st shop and how they are fake, etc...and the 3rd shop's plastic bag was from some convenience shop. All in all, after I got back to the apartment I found the address and realised non of the 3 shops was the real shop! Haha! And we still prefer 李义饼店 at Jiufen.

DAY 5:

Keston didn't want to wake up in the morning again so we had to wake him up after we packed up to check out. The plan was to visit 纸箱王 before we go back to Taipei. When we asked Tweety for directions the previous day, she told us we could book a cab for NT1000...and if we wanted the cab to wait for us and then send us to the train station, it would be NT1800. She then suggested we take the bus instead, which would cost less than NT50. Since Cartonking opens at 11am and we were ready and out by 10am, we decided to try the bus since it's a good 40mins away. We found the bus stop and sat there waiting for half an hour and still no bus came! So we gave up and flagged a cab. The cabbie was a very nice and friendly man who chatted endlessly and told us Cartonking is in a v ulu location and we may have difficulty getting another cab out. At this point, I was thinking 'Uh-oh! He's gonna charge us an exhorbitant rate and convince us to book his cab.' But when HW asked him 'Then how?'...he just said 'Ermm...u wait patiently, should be able to find a cab.'....after a few minutes, he asked us how long we'd be there and we said we didn't know, probably an hour or so. He suggested that he'll have lunch somewhere nearby and when we're done, just give him a call and he'll come back for us. I was still thinking 'Hmm..got any surcharge or not?' But when we reached the destination, he only accepted payment for our journey there and did not mention anything else. When we were done, he sent us back to the apartment to get our luggage and then to the train station...when HW paid him a little extra, he still wanted to give us back the change (really just loose change)! See? Nice guy! And the whole journey was like NT500 or something like that!! Nowhere near NT1800!!!

Anyway, because Cartonking was so far away and Keston generally loves sleeping in cars, he was just dozing off when we reached Cartonking so he was jolted awake. And because he'd just missed his nap, he was so very cranky. Cartonking looks like a nice place for photography..loads of interesting structures made of paper. I'd wanted to have lunch at the restaurant cos their table and chairs were made of paper. But the little one was too cranky and couldn't keep still. He didn't want to be carried, didn't want to sit in the stroller and wasn't happy walking on the uneven ground either. So after a quick browse-- we were there for less than 30mins, we left the place. I was abit annoyed to have come so far and not get to enjoy the place!! On the cab back, Keston slept and slept all the way till we got to the train station.

Paid the peak hour rates for the 1pm train to Taipei...arrived back at 2pm and made our way back to the hotel by 3pm. We spent the afternoon shopping at the 2nd hand cd shops in Ximending while Keston snoozed away in the carrier. Then finally went to Shilin night market that night.

DAY 6:

Couldn't do much as we had to take the 10.50am Freego bus to the airport.

I'd wanted to post my intended itinerary with notes here but realised I need to use html codes and I really can't be bothered...so if you want to see my itinerary, just leave a comment.

Baby Signing Time

2010-03-01T07:41:00.000-08:00

Ever since watching Meet The Fockers, and getting bowled over by adorable little Jack, I've always planned on teaching my (then) future kid sign language.

I didn't know where to buy the Baby Signing Time DVDs and went on to dl(shhhh) it off the net. And because it was on my old lappie that did not have a DVDr drive, I could not burn it out. I hardly let Keston watch stuff on my lappie so he watched the show only a handful of times.

Very recently I finally transferred it to my new laptop and bothered to figure out how to burn it out. And thus we got to enjoy it on the large screen. I must say I really like the series as the songs are very catchy and the kids are very cute and animated. We've been watching it for a couple of months on-off and I was wondering why Keston hasn't picked up anything yet. Then I happened to click into the extra features bit where there's a section teaching you how to use this dvd. Duh! You are supposed to help your kids do the sign! Hahaha..and there I was thinking that kids are supposed to figure it out from watching tv. Of course you're supposed to be using the signs with them as well, which I do only when I remember so no consistency there.

Anyway, I started straight away. And since food is Keston's main vice, I used that as a 'bait'. I started out during his breakfast. I'd ask and teach him to sign 'please' when he wants the next spoon of apple. I did it consistently with every spoon of apple. During lunch, he surprised me by signing 'please' when I asked him to. So it would be like Keston pointing to his porridge and I'd say PLEASE and he'd quickly sign it.

By dinner time, he was doing it voluntarily half the time. And by the next day he used 'please' with every request-- food, toys, carry, etc. A big WOW moment came when he was playing with a tennis ball on my bed and I told him to stay put till I came back. I went outside the room and heard him drop the ball off the bed. I wondered briefly if he'd get down from the bed. When I came back into the room, he was still sitting obediently on the bed minus the ball. He immediately pointed to the ball on the floor, said 'BALL' and signed 'please'. I laughed and said ok and he scrambled after the ball immediately.

He's moved on to 'thank you' (although he covers his mouth instead of just his chin and it looks similar to his flying kiss) and 'apple' (not very accurate but close enough). My pet peeve is he does not thank voluntarily, only if I prompt him. The only time he does it voluntarily is when he really really wants something that's out of reach. Like his cheerios, he'd point at it and sign please and thank you repeatedly! I'm finding it hard to advance to words that do not require the use of food as a reward. He sounds like a pet here :P

I'm still concerned that his vocab is very very limited but I'm glad he's picking up signs to help him express himself.

新年快乐，虎年来了！

2010-02-17T06:35:00.000-08:00

Happy CNY! We're not really into the whole CNY-dong dong chiang type of stuff. I've never really done visiting my whole life...well, maybe when I was little and my grandparents were still around, I might have gone with for abit of house hopping. But for the larger part of my life, I've never really visited anyone's homes during CNY. When HW and I got married, I was happy to learn he didn't have such a habbit either.
So I guess li'l K's gonna grow up without experiencing the whole 恭喜发财，红包拿来 thingy. Heck lah.I wanted to dress him up in traditional cheena garbs but I couldn't find anything I like. See, Keston is very tanned and so, he doesn't look good in deep, dark colours. Which means, the royal blue I like so much is out. He doesn't look good in the golden-yellowish tone normally seen on the boys' costumes either. And we couldn't really come to a conclusion what colour suits him...and so in the end, no ching chong costumes. Gah. We got a pigtail hat though, which he refused to wear. Ah well. No surprise there.I think the little boy really enjoyed having Daddy and Mummy with him for the past ermm...4.5 days. He's been babbling/talking more and really progressing with his puzzles. However, he's also developed some strange habbits. For a start, he says ball-ball with renewed vigour. HW swears he heard Keston say apple....and to be honest, I think I heard it a couple of times too when he was eating apple, but it's really soft so I can't be sure and don't want to be too optimistic.He's finally gotten round to playing with his wooden animal puzzles-- you know, those pieces of animals with wooden knobs where you place on designated spaces on a wooden board. He used to get so frustrated when he can't get the orientation right and can't fit in the animals and will proceed to just fling it aside. But now, he's so fast at fitting it all in. He can fit in 7 out of the 10 pieces...cos if we take all 10 pieces out, he gets no motivation in completing it. We have to leave a few pieces in. Well, he has done all 10 pieces before but most of the time, when we remove all the pieces he just turns away.
Last week I was trying to teach him to nod his head for yes. Like 'Wanna go gai gai?' and I'll man-handle his head and force him to nod...didn't really work :P Ironically, all of a sudden he's shaking his head. It's not 100% accurate yet but I'd say 70-80% of the time when he shakes his head, he really means no. When he wants to say yes, he just doesn't do a thing or tries to reach out instead.

The very undesirable habbit he'd started is banging his head. When he doesn't get what he wants, when he gets frustrated with whatever he's playing with, when he's mad at us...he sits on the floor and slowly drops his head to conk the floor. I've read that it's fairly common and not to give any reaction to it so he'd stop using it to get his way, but it's hard not to!

I didn't take much photos for him this year...cos a few days before CNY, he knocked his head massively and had a huge balugu in the middle of his forehead! :( It looks so horrible so I couldn't bear to take any photos. Seems like he always kenna some mishaps during CNY. Last year, he woke up on 初一 with massive mozzie bites all over his face! This year, a huge bruise on his forehead...sigh~

Closing the door...

2010-02-08T00:45:00.000-08:00

As far as I can remember, Keston has always been afraid of closing doors. He seems to think we're gone forever whenever we attempt to close the kitchen door or the toilet door. He'd stand outside pounding on the door and crying his lungs out.

A few days ago, he was being naughty and kept walking through the kitchen, out of the back door to the washing area and touching the detergents. I kept scolding him and warning him but to no avail. In the end, I closed the door on him-- leaving him in the washing area by himself. The second the door clicked close, he wailed and screamed. It was only for a good 10 seconds and when I opened the door, he ran out and immediately pushed the door close. From then on, he no longer wanders into the washing area and would close that door whenever he sees it open! Maybe I should do the same when he walks into the kitchen...

The next day, I was trying to get him to nap but he kept getting up to walk. So I opened the room door and calmly said "You wanna play right? Ok go outside the room to play." He was grinning from ear to ear and happily walked out of the room. The moment he stepped out, I closed the door. Cue dramatic wailing. Again, I left it for a few seconds before I let him in again. And he guai guai climb on to the bed to settle down. Whenever he attempts to get down from the bed, I'd ask him if he wants to go outside again and he quickly gets back on the bed. Sometimes he goes as far as the door and I'd gamely open the door wide for him, but he'll quickly walk behind the door and push it shut. It's quite hilarious really and works wonderfully in disciplining him.

Developments of late + weaning off the pacifier

2010-02-02T07:51:00.000-08:00

Over the past 2 months, Keston has picked up waving bye-bye followed by kiss-kiss. I was too lazy to say "Flying kiss", so it just stayed as "Kiss-kiss". Whenever we say bye bye, he'd wave his hands enthusiastically and when we say kiss-kiss, he'd bring his palm up to his mouth...sometimes followed by a slight wave at the direction of the recipent.

I don't think he quite understands the meaning of kiss yet. He thinks it means licking his palm! hehe! He's been quite consistent with these 2 commands, especially in the last month. He'd wave and kiss goodbye to our neighbour whenever he's done walking to and fro their gate to ours.

The cheeky boy now claps for himself whenever he thinks he's done something new/clever! The first time he walked down the steps (using the wall as an aid) without having to turn around and do the bum-first motion, he clapped in delight. When he started walking down a step without having his bum touch the ground, he also clapped for himself!

When I went through the developmental milestones at Babycenter just now, I realised that he has actually met all of the required skills, some of the emerging and advanced skills....all except for the speech-related ones! I didn't know throwing the ball overhand and underhand were considered advanced skills at 18months cos he's been doing it for awhile now.

He's also quite an expert at threading/lacing his little animal beads now. When we bought the set at Christmas, he wasn't interested. But after showing him a couple of times how to thread the beads, he'd attempt and succeed occassionally, but usually losing interest after 2 or 3 beads. I don't actually know when he became such an expert, but I'd leave the beads lying about and on occassions when I weren't looking, I'd turn back a while later to see the thread filled with beads.

Weaning off Pacifier
A while ago, Keston had been biting through his old pacifiers. When we were buying new pacifiers, I suddenly noticed that the last stage of pacifiers was 6mths-18mths. So technically, after turning 18mths....the pacifiers weren't suitable for him anymore! We kept mumbling yeah yeah must stop using pacifier, but neither of us were confident about it.

On 1 Feb (Monday), 4 days after Keston turned 18mths...as a joke, HW told Keston "Mummy said must stop using pacifier already so no more pacifier ok?". Obviously Keston didn't respond lah. And I was like errr yeah. That morning, HW still gave Keston his pacifier after his bath (cos he tends to start scrambling everywhere when we're drying him)...and I said "I thought no more pacifier?" He said "Tonight lah, you administer it." Right. I dunno where I garnered the courage, but that night I really didn't give K the pacifier. Just told him to go to sleep....he did fuss abit (no cries, just ee ee orr orr) but managed to fall asleep anyway. Usually when he stirs at night, he'd brush around the whole bed locating his pacifier, stuff it back in and go back to sleep. That night, when he tried looking for his pacifier and not finding it, he started whining in his subconscious state. I tried to resist but after 5 mins of not being able to get him to fall back into his deep sleep, I succumbed. Once the pacifier was in, he immediately went back to sleep. But when I tried to pull it out, he sucked on it even harder, unwilling to let go. Let him suck for a few minutes and took it out.

The 2nd day, K missed his morning nap cos he associates the pacifier to sleeping. No pacifier means not time to sleep. Because of that, he fell asleep v easily right after lunch. No pacifier required. That night, he didn't fuss...just fell asleep himself after scrambling around the bed for awhile.

3rd day. K took his morning nap after I pulled all the curtains to emulate night time. He also took his 2nd nap successfully. Night time as well.

I guess it was a success. Not as difficult nor scary as I thought!!!

...maybe, maybe not...

2010-01-24T07:29:00.000-08:00

Right after the last post, Keston started pointing at stuffs more and giving a tiny bit more response to his name. Mostly though, he prefers to grab our hands and shove our hand in the general direction of whatever he wants.

I realise he responds selectively. The 100% sure proof way to get his attention is "BISCUIT" or "CHEESE". The problem is, if there's no food waiting for him when he turns around, he gets pretty annoyed. Also, he responds more to his daddy than me when we call his name. I think he takes me for granted :P

Keston's basically a very friendly kid-- always smiling at people. Yesterday, we were having dinner in Far East and the aunty there kept calling him "Yan Dao". He loved it and would keep grinning shyly at her everytime she hollered Yan Dao! He keeps very good eye contact.

HW keeps saying "You see him like that, where got A-t----c?" (We avoid using the word ever since I had my suspicions :P)

Well, as long as he points and responds to his name...and hopefully comes up with an understandable word sometime soon...I guess my worries may be unfounded. Till then, guess all I can do is keep talking and teaching him.

ASD

2010-01-21T07:45:00.000-08:00

ASD, short for Autism Spectrum Disorders...or better known as Autism.

I've always complained about Keston's slow developments and today for some reasons, I had a niggling feeling and googled Autism. What I found was NOT very reassuring and I am now guaranteed a sleepless night!

Symptoms

By Mayo Clinic staff

Children with autism generally have problems in three crucial areas of development — social interaction, language and behavior. But because the symptoms of autism vary greatly, two children with the same diagnosis may act quite differently and have strikingly different skills. In most cases, though, the most severe autism is marked by a complete inability to communicate or interact with other people.

Many children show signs of autism in early infancy. Other children may develop normally for the first few months or years of life but then suddenly become withdrawn, aggressive or lose language skills they've already acquired. Though each child with autism is likely to have a unique pattern of behavior, these characteristics are common signs of the disorder:

Social skills

Fails to respond to his or her name check. Keston has almost never responded to his name!
Has poor eye contact
Appears not to hear you at times Sometimes. But usually when we're telling him off.
Resists cuddling and holding Sometimes.
Appears unaware of others' feelings
Seems to prefer playing alone — retreats into his or her "own world" Sometimes.

Language

Starts talking later than other children Check! He knows no words!
Loses previously acquired ability to say words or sentences Check. He used to say Mama but not anymore (for a long time).
Does not make eye contact when making requests
Speaks with an abnormal tone or rhythm — may use a singsong voice or robot-like speech
Can't start a conversation or keep one going
May repeat words or phrases verbatim, but doesn't understand how to use them

Behavior

Performs repetitive movements, such as rocking, spinning or hand-flapping Hand-flapping when he's happy. Does that count?
Develops specific routines or rituals
Becomes disturbed at the slightest change in routines or rituals Quite adaptable to changes actually!
Moves constantly Yes. But don't all toddlers?
May be fascinated by parts of an object, such as the spinning wheels of a toy car
May be unusually sensitive to light, sound and touch and yet oblivious to pain

Young children with autism also have a hard time sharing experiences with others. When read to, for example, they're unlikely to point at pictures in the book. This early-developing social skill is crucial to later language and social development.

As they mature, some children with autism become more engaged with others and show less marked disturbances in behavior. Some, usually those with the least severe problems, eventually may lead normal or near-normal lives. Others, however, continue to have great difficulty with language or social skills, and the adolescent years can mean a worsening of behavior problems.

The majority of children with autism are slow to acquire new knowledge or skills and some have signs of lower than normal intelligence. Other children with autism have normal to high intelligence. These children learn quickly yet have trouble communicating, applying what they know in everyday life and adjusting in social situations. An extremely small number of children with autism are "autistic savants" and have exceptional skills in a specific area, such as art, math or music.

I read somewhere else about the lack of ability to point. And I kept droning on to HW about how Keston doesn't point. He sticks out his index finger only to poke us, but never to point at stuff.

Of course when we went home this evening, the kid went around pointing at everything. Just to prove a point? HW says he probably felt what I was thinking of all day.

Anyway, I digress. While there are some 'symptoms' that seem to be displayed in most/all toddlers, there are some really disturbing ones that I've highlighted above. Particularly the name-recognition and speech delay bit.

HW thinks I'm overreacting and refused to participate in further discussion with me. I think I need to get Keston assessed! But then I read from local forums that you can only get a proper assessment at 2.5yrs old. That's 1 year more!!!

Seriously hope K starts saying something soon. It's really quite distressing especially since I've always thought the first and foremost symptom is the refusal of eye-contact! I had no idea there were so many other symptoms!!! I hope what he has is just a speech delay. I keep hearing about kids who didn't speak till they were 3 and then they wouldn't shut up...I hope K is one of them. I promise I won't tell him to shut up.

4D3N in Bkk

2010-01-17T03:28:00.001-08:00

12-15th Jan-- Keston's 2nd trip overseas.

About a week prior to this, HW came home asking me "Do you dare to bring Keston to Bkk next week?". I said of course! I think it was largely due to the way the question was phrased. I saw it as a challenge, as opposed to a query.

Because it was quite a last minute trip, we weren't quite prepared and did alot of last minute preparations. Number 1 on our list was food concerns. We did not really allow K to take outside food, and yet we would not be able to do any cooking on this trip. Our salvation came in the form of Wakodo baby food, found at Isetan. They had this awesome instant porridge (not cereal) that needs only hot water. Score! We also got a few packets of baby food to mix with the porridge.

The flight to BKK wasn't too bad actually. The flight was actually delayed for an hour, so we were stuck in the plane while K happily grabbed the in-flight magazines, climbed up and down our laps...grinned cheekily at the ang mor 2 seats away. We kept ourselves busy grabbing him back from wandering out, and from playing with other peoples' shoes :P The bugger fell asleep just before take off...and lasted till the food arrived. We proceeded to stuff him with bread to keep him still.
The weather in Bkk was quite nice, rather windy comparatively. K was an absolute joy for most parts-- smiling at everyone. Due to the v unclean environment, I kept him inside the Ergo for the most parts. Only when we were in spacious and clean malls, then did I let him out. Keston adored his newfound legs and freedom and would then run round and round the place, falling down and touching everything he saw. It did help that he was so smiley so the shopkeepers were more amused than harrassed. Most people played with him, tickling him and playing peekaboo with him as he scurried past.

Most Thais expressed disbelief when told that K was 1.5yrs old. We were led to believe that K is a giant baby!!! I suppose it's just a relative comparison cos he's not considered a big sized kid over here. Over there, we got alot of "Oooh! Big Boy!"

His naps were very affected as he does not sleep well outside. He still got his 2 naps, but the durations were 30mins-1hr as opposed to his usual 2-3hrs each. The good thing is, he knocked out every night and slept till late morning everyday. He also pooped everyday before we left the hotel.

We even managed to squeeze in a movie, Avatar. K was napping and I thought he'd sleep through the movie...who knows, he slept through the advertisements and got up when the movie started! But he sat there quietly through almost 2 hours of the movie before we started worrying that he was getting too cold (he was dressed in a singlet and shorts as we didn't plan to watch a movie) and it was past his milk time. I suppose if he had on a jacket and we had his milk ready, we could probably finish the movie.
The flight back was abit of a nightmare. Keston fell asleep when we were queuing up to board the plane. He slept even as I sat down and put the seatbelt around us. But just when the plane was about to take off, he woke up!!! ArrghhH! He wasn't cranky, but he just wanted/needed to walk around, play on the floor..and basically be a menace. When we tried to restrain him back, he'd threaten to cry. It was a vv long flight.

I must say HW was a great help, he packed everything and made sure we had everything we needed every morning before we went out. I just had to scream "Water!', "Towel", "Spoon!", "Toy!" and he'd duly hand everything over. At the end of the trip, he was complaining to K-- "I feel so disgusting, my pockets are all filled with all your things....I feel like Xiao Ding Dang!" Haha

We have another holiday planned in a couple of months and are discussing distractions for his next flight already!

Visit to Fidgets

2010-01-05T00:42:00.000-08:00

On the 10th day of Christmas (3rd Jan 2010), we decided to visit Fidgets. I was all excited cos it's pretty near home and would be convenient to bring Keston if he does like it.

When we first entered the main door, I was quite impressed by how big the place is and how the cafe was bustling with life. On the right hand side was a big empty space, occupied by a teeny li'l ballpit. The area was labelled "Little Fidgets", and there were 2 crawlers there. I thought to myself "K is waaay overage for this, let's move on to the left hand side."

On the left were huge structures with slides and ramps...and we stood there for a few minutes before realising the structures were too advanced for our mini toddler. Also, there were too many rowdy pre-schoolers/pri schoolers dashing in every direction.

And so we scuttled back to Little Fidgets. But...but the ballpit there is so ermm...blah? For lack of better words, it's just boring. It's shallow, narrow and dark. And it was squished in with a wee slide that does not allow adult sized objects to navigate. So we couldn't guide Keston in, and truth be told it was v claustrophobic. We stayed there for abit since Keston likes balls but I think even he got bored after awhile...the next section was a big empty area with just 1 little tikes coupe, already occupied by another toddler. We thought we'd come back again when the tod was done, and moved on to the next section. This was a round pit area where there was a ramp with many touchy feely stuff. It's quite nice, albeit small and currently occupied by 4 pre-schoolers prancing about.And thus we were done with Little Fidgets. We moved back to the little tikes area but the same toddler was still at it. And we were bemused to see an angmor girl squeezing herself into the car with the bewildered toddler.

Since there was nothing else to play, we decided to brave the big kids area. It was very difficult to persuade K to climb up the ramp. I understood why when I tried it myself. The foam in the footholds had gone all soft and they collapse when you stepped on them so they didn't really help in climbing up. In addition to that, the ramps were very steep. So it was really difficult to navigate up the ramps. Nevertheless we made our way up the ramps. Came down soon after when I realised the way forward was blocked by 2 huge rotating blocks that had space only for puppies to climb through. Ok fine, kids can squeeze their way through, but there was no way I am gonna get through. And there is NO way I will let Keston get into it himself and get stuck there.

So, up another ramp we went. At least there were 2 ways to go this time. 1 of the way was another of those 'Kids only' entrance and I panicked momentarily when Keston slipped through. I screamed at HW to find where it leads and to stop K at the other end. Thankfully Keston crawled back out to me after a short while. We found a nice shiny slide, which was vvv steep looking. It looks like you're doing a free fall and felt quite scary. BUT wah lau eh, they never wax it or what...cannot slide down! You move for like 15cm and stuck already...anti-climax!

The structures were definitely not suitable for K's age and the pre-schoolers were pretty rowdy as well. When we were getting K to climb through a tube, a bunch of kids just pushed their way into the tube with him and forced their way through. When K was in the teeny ballpit, an angmor boy came along and attempted to step on him for God knows what reason, and then went on to mutter something rude (can't remember what). Not everyone was rude of course, there was a nice Chinese boy who kept picking up balls to give Keston (??) .

In the process, we kept a lookout for the little tikes car. By now there was a pre-schooler Chinese boy occupying it. He looked to be about 3-4. Everytime he wanted to get out of the car, he'd stand by the door. Once any other kid attempts to take over, he'd push them away and squeeze in again. This went on for quite some time. As we were about to leave the place already, HW wanted K to try the car. We knew K probably wasn't really interested in it but wanted to try anyway. So HW brought K over to the boy in the car and asked him if we could borrow the car for a couple of minutes. The boy flatly said NO and sulked at him. HW was so taken aback by the boy's attitude that he made Keston stand beside the car so the boy's mummy will be pai sey and ask the boy to give way. It took her a few minutes to get the hint. And when she asked him to give way, he flatly refused again. She went back to sit but HW persisted in asking her to get her son out for a few minutes as we were gonna leave. As the boy refused to give up possession of the car, she had to drag him out. Did I say drag? I mean DRAG! She pulled with all her might and the boy held on with all his strength. When she eventually won the tug of war and got his butt out, he still refused to let go of the steering wheel. When she finally managed to pry his fingers loose, he yelled and screamed and bawled. Then he went on to knock his head on the parquet flooring with a loud THUD! The mother was embarrassed maybe, pissed most definitely (although possibly at us :P) and went on to spank the kid. Aiyoh, at that moment I wanted to denounce any links I had with HW and K....I felt so bad lor! Later I asked HW why he was so insistent, he said cos the boy was rude!! Haiz...I hope K never reaches this uncontrollable stage!In summary, I don't think I will go back to Fidgets again. At least not for the next year or so.

Night Terrors

2010-01-03T20:54:00.000-08:00

Last sunday, we finally brought Keston to The Polliwogs. HW had some errand to run in the east so we thought we'd drop by the indoor playground. Keston, as usual, loved the ballpit and the slides. It was abit tiring for us as we had to guide him through the play structure to get to the slides-- that means lots of crouching, crawling and climbing. HW kept complaining that it's damn tiring but he still got on with his fatherly duties.

That same night, I had the hardest time putting Keston to sleep. My normal 'routine' would be to dump him on my bed, off the lights while I continue surfing the net. He'd usually climb up and down, lie on my tummy, lick my knees, bang on the laptop..until he falls asleep happily. But that night, after just a couple of minutes of moving, he started sobbing. I gave him his pacifier and he kept spitting it out. I tried cuddling him and he'd calm down for abit and then start crying again. It went on and on for 2+hours until he fell asleep due to pure exhaustion. But shortly after he was asleep, he started stirring and crying in his sleep. He wasn't awake, just crying hysterically in his sleep. My ils keep saying "All babies are like that." But NO, Keston is usually a great great sleeper at night! When he sleeps at night, nothing can wake him up. Anyway, I digress. It was difficult to calm him down and it took awhile before he stopped crying and continued sleeping.....The whole saga lasted the whole night. I tried teething gel, ruyi oil, massage oils...

The next night, same thing happened.

On the 3rd night, he didn't cry too much before falling asleep so I thought it's all over. I went out to watch tv and he began crying hysterically shortly. I managed to pacify him in a short while and went back out. Again, he started crying. Upon suggestions from other mummies, I decided to wake him up. I turned on the lights and brought him out to the living room. Despite the light, he continued crying hysterically. Carry also cry, don't carry also cry. Sit down also cry, lie down also cry. Give pacifier also don't want. Give milk don't want. The only thing that calmed him down was his baby puffs. HW didn't want to give him too much to eat and kept trying to stop him, which induced more wails. It was a long long night. I had to carry him (in sitting up position) and walked around the house in the dark. He wouldn't let me sit down on the bed...he'd only permit me to sit down on a chair by the window--which is bloody eerie if you ask me!

And so this went on till I thought he was much calmer and went to lie down on the bed. He didn't really cry anymore, but was still v restless and somehow fell asleep around 4am.

The 4th night, I knew I couldn't take it anymore and went to EYS to buy this 八宝散. It's actually for cough, phlegm but the staff recommended it for night wakings. So wth, just try lah. That night, no problem at all! Keston fell asleep easily and slept peacefully all night. To add to that, we placed the bible by the bed and played a worship cd all night.

The next morning while I was watching tv with Keston, the tv channel started changing by itself! Not once, but 3 times!! I was so freaked that I went to off the main switch. I know there are perfectly scientific reasons for this (circuit failure and whatnots) but freaky nontheless.

On the 5th night, HW didn't want me to give K the powder anymore cos he says there's probably some alcohol or drug contents to make you drowsy. But I persisted as I was afraid he'll go hysterical again. As expected he slept very well. At one point in time, I actually moved the bible over his body and at that exact instant, Keston sat upright and raised both arms into the air, with his face tilted upwards!!! As suddenly as it happened, he collapsed and continued sleeping. WTF! Tell me what to think?

Yesterday was the 6th night and we went drug free. Everything was fine and I hope the night terrors stay away!

Christmas and beyond

2009-12-28T21:16:00.000-08:00

Keston celebrated his 2nd Christmas. Cliche as it may sound, time doth fly! This time last year he could not even sit up and now he's a waddling toddler! Next year, I'm sure I'll be repeating something similar.

The boy turned 17mths yesterday. Still not talking, aside from calling Dada. Sigh~ Nevermind lah, shall not stress myself nor him.

When Keston was just born, he wasn't a pretty baby. His right eye had a red mark from where the forceps were used. His eyes were swollen and his face scrunched up. On the 2nd or 3rd day, HW asked me (and I'll never let him live this down) "Do you really think he's cute?" I was speechless. Part of me wanted to admit the truth, while the other part was in denial. So I simply said "He will become cute." Thank goodness, after the bruises disappeared and his eyes opened...he was indeed cute! (I'm bias, so what?) In the initial months, HW refused to kiss Keston....when I asked him why, he said it's very gay for guy to kiss guy!?!

Fast forward, now HW can't stop kissing Keston. He even tries to trick Keston into kissing him on the mouth (by pretending he's got a biscuit in his mouth). I supposed that's his warped version of Father love!

Terrible 2s

2009-12-18T07:48:00.000-08:00

My 16mth old is hitting toddlerhood abit earlier than expected. For the past month or so, he's been throwing terrible tantrums whenever he does not get his way. If he wanted a particular toy (most of the time, it's actually a household appliance that he wants to turn into his toy) or wanted his biscuit , and we didn't want to give it to him...he'd arch his back , threaten to bang his head on the floor, whine, scream, cry. The full works.

He's also becoming increasingly dependent on his pacifier. I guess that's to be expected since his paternals stick it into his little mouth every chance they get. I only give it to him when it's time to nap. They give it to him everytime he makes a squeak. How to wean him off???

I try not to give in to his tantrums...but sometimes it's really so much easier to give him whatever he wants.

Terrible 2s, here we come. I'm reminded of something Sujia said : Terrible 2s doesn't mean it comes at 2 years old. It means that it lasts for 2 years!!

OMG!!

Here we go!

2009-11-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

Just a day after I tricked Keston into walking, he started walking himself! In the morning, when I was getting him to nap, he kept standing up by himself on the bed. And he was so proud that he started bouncing around. In the afternoon, he was leaning by the sofa when he suddenly turned around and walked to his rocking horse. It was just 3-5 steps away. A short while later, he stood up from the floor himself and walked again. He did this a couple of times so I quickly took my camera, ready to video it for proof (cos HW will never believe me otherwise). But of course I sat there for half a day ready to video, and he never did stand up again.

When HW came home, I told him "Keston walked by himself today!". Ever the skeptic, he just went 'Yeah yeah yeah. Keston, Mummy always bluff me say you can do so many things!'.

To which, Keston promptly stood up and walked towards Dada. Haha! That shut him up!

Just for my record, Keston first started walking on 24 November 2009-- 4 days before he turns 16 mths.

We have now added on to the statistics of late walkers. So next time someone you know complains about his/her kid not walking at 12mths, you can say 'My friend's son didn't walk till he was 16mths!

!!'

Shall we walk?

2009-11-23T07:13:00.000-08:00

At almost 16 mths, Keston is still not walking independently. He's been cruising everywhere for the past 6-7mths, but when we offer him our hands, he will sit down immediately. No matter, we thought. He'll walk when he wants to.

A couple of weeks back, we decided to be abit more pro-active in helping him start walking. This time we had him put on shoes and walk on carpeted flooring while holding our hands. Amazingly, he was thrilled and walked ALOT! We tried again on our marble floor and he refused to walk again. Then we brought him to the tennis court and again, he was pulling our hands and waddling up and down the court! Our precious is so particular about the ground he's on. If it's too hard, he doesn't want to walk!

Within 1-2 days, he progressed to walking while holding only 1 of our finger! He'd use one of his hands to balance himself...and the other hand to grasp one finger. He wasn't using the finger as a support but more as a confidence/comfort object. I kept joking about rolling up a piece of paper and letting him grab on to it while walking.

Side track abit... This idea came about cos I keep remembering this joke I heard in my uni days. A friend bought a roll of book wrapper (you know, the transparent plastic roll that we all used to wrap our textbooks in) and was riding in the bus on an aisle seat. Suddenly the bus jerked and the person standing in front of her grabbed on to the roll, thinking it's one of the support poles in the bus!!! Haha

So anyway, tonight after brushing Keston's teeth, I decided to let him grab the toothbrush... he held one end, while I held the head of the toothbrush. He took 1 step and I let go....he continued walking another 3-5 steps thinking he was still grabbing on to me!!! It was freaking hilarious! After he realised mummy wasn't beside him, he was stunned and promptly sat down.

So there you go, his first few unassisted steps! He was tricked, but still....

Photography

2009-11-16T00:39:00.000-08:00

In my earlier years, I used to attend so many concerts that my camera was practically surgically attached. The outcome of my photography would depend on how close I was to the stage and how energetic the performer was. I remember gawking at the people using the 'professional' cameras and then admiring how awesome their shots came out. But I'd never once entertain the thought of owning a 'professional' camera. It wasn't the price (I'd never bothered to find out the price, but I probably wouldn't have been able to afford it on my jc allowance anyway.), I'd just associated the big cameras with the professionals. If you're not a professional, you shouldn't be using such a bigass camera.

Fast forward a few years. Like any new parents, I was thrown into the frenzy of photography with the birth of my child. My cam was once again surgically attached to one hip while my baby was on my other. I'd spend all day snapping away, not really satisfied with the outcome and yet, relentlessly trying to get that perfect shot.

It was at K's 1st photoshoot that I first entertained the thought of getting a dslr. It was an Easter promo shoot that lasted only 15 mins, and yet the photographer was able to capture many nice shots of the squirmy boy. I would have gotten 15mins worth of blurred shots. That was when I started researching about dslrs and how they're so wonderful! HW wasn't supportive of me getting a dslr, he was sure I wouldn't know how to utilise it fully and would lose interest after a week or 2.

I was abit hesitant myself. Anyway, I started reading photography books in my leisure time. Read about composition and the basic stuff and I started trying to compose my pictures better. After awhile, there was all that mess with K in the hospital and other stuff, so I stopped thinking of the dslr.

We went for a few more photoshoots and I started thinking "Hey! I could take these myself! I just don't have the right camera!" (Yes I'm very thick skinned and ambitious). So I started my research on dslrs again. This time I was reading up on apperture, shutter speed, depth of field, exposure, metering, cs4, etc. There was so much to learn and the more I read, the more intrigued I was.

Right about the time K turned 1, a friend of HW's lent us his spare dslr-- a D70. This was probably the turning point for me. I tried to put to use what I've learned and started on a very gradual learning curve. I must admit, my first few attempts were atrocious and I ended up using the preset modes. But as time passed, and with more trial and errors, I grew to love seeing things through the lens. You get a different perspective to things that are happening around you. I did see an improvement in my photography. HW must have seen it too cos he then gave me the go-ahead to get my own to play with. (HW is my worst critic cos he usually just comments everything I do is laoya). Besides, I have a ready and willing model-- what's stopping me?

I decided on the D5000 cos I'm such a sucker for advertisements! I liked the ads and they keep appearing on the buses on the road, so it's a no brainer for me. The competition was really between the 500D and the D5000 but since I've handled a Nikon before, I just went the Nikon way.

Shortly after getting the camera, I decided the kit lens wasn't giving me satisfactory results and got another prime lens. Previously, when people tell me that lens are expensive, I'd always thought they meant a hundred bucks or something. But now I truly understand how expensive lens can get. They can range from a couple of hundreds to over a thousand. The better ones are usually over $500. And then there's the external flash, tripod, dry box...the buy list is endless, and everything seems like a must-have!

Do you automatically start taking nicer photos with an expensive camera? I thought so at first, but not necessarily! HW can attest to that! Whenever I pass him my camera, using my settings, he always ends up with blurred out of focus shots, so he eventually changes it to auto mode, which basically makes the dslr function like a high end digicam. The photo results he gets are pretty similar to what he gets on the Lumix.

Right now, while I'm happy enough with my photos, I'm not quite satisfied with them, even on an amateur level. Every time I take a photo, I'm happy with it for like 5 minutes. Then I start picking flaws and making mental notes on what I should (not) have done. And then I decide I have an awful photo! Come to think of it, I'm probably my worst critic. HW comes in a v close 2nd place.

Keston turns 15mths

2009-10-28T10:41:00.000-07:00

Oops, just realised my last post was more than a month ago? Man, I should really do this more regularly. I know I already missed out on a few happenings that I wanted to pen down.

The little one turns 15mths today. WHAT? Where did the 15mths go? How did Keston morph from the wrinkly, scrawny, pinkish, little peanut to this active (and still scrawny) baby? When did his limbs lengthen? Must be when I was sleeping cos I sure don't remember it happening!

Sometime just after he turned 14mths, his 3rd lower tooth and 2 lower molars started sprouting. Right now @ 15mths, he's got his 4 upper teeth, 3 lower teeth and 1 molar fully emerged. Abit buey balance!

At 15mths, he is STILL NOT walking. I've already come to accept that K's a late developer so it doesn't really bother me. Sujia says he doesn't wanna walk because he's so good at crawling. And he sure proved it by leaping everywhere when we met up at Botanic Gardens.Keston's hair is still growing at a snail's pace. It's growing alright, just taking its own sweet time! His vocab is not growing much either. He still hasn't started calling me, much to my utter dismay. Especially since he's such a mummy's boy!
He's become quite a pro at climbing up and down the sofa and chuckles everytime I turn around to find him on the sofa. When he wakes up in the morning (and I refuse to be awakened), he will climb down the bed and crawl to the living room to look for his daddy. So independent!!!

Keston still loves his Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. However, I've come to realise that he actually likes Donald more than Mickey, cos he will actually laugh out when Donald does something silly. He also likes Hi-5 (so gay!), Caillou, Diego and Sesame Street. Uh-oh, my boy is a tv addict!!!

All in all, I'm really thankful for the past 15mths of pure bliss!

Farewell Mr Kawasaki

2009-09-24T20:46:00.001-07:00

Keston had his final check up following KD on Wednesday. At 13mths 3.5weeks, he weighs 9.75kg and measures about 76cm. Not as tall as we thought and definitely not as heavy!!

K was supposed to do a heartscan to check for any abnormalities in the arteries. And then a blood test to check if his blood platelet count had gone back to normal, and if he still has low red blood cells.

The appointment was for 10.15am. Keston usually has his morning nap at 10.30am. And because Keston is usually very wary of strangers, he gets whiney and agitated when strangers come near him or touch him. At the last check up, we'd had to have him sedated. We thought it'd be the same this time and were privately congratulating ourselves on the excellent timing as he'd get his nap while being sedated! But Noooooo! Keston chose this day to be Mr Outgoing. He was totally fine with 2 different doctors poking at his chest. So there was no need to be sedated. We had to distract him abit though cos he kept trying to grab the probe from the doc. And when the assistant gave him a light sabre, he used it to whack the scan machine until some setting went off. *whoops* The scan went well and there were no concerns with his heart.

Next we went for the bloodtest. Again, we were surprised that he let the lab lady touch his finger and poke him. After a couple of times of squeezing the blood out, he finally felt the pain and started crying. Poor boy. And then he went on the scowl at the lady, who was just doing her job! But after the tube of blood was collected, he forgot about the pain and concentrated on peeling the plaster off his finger instead.

With the blood test report, we went back to the Cardiac Centre to get a review and to decide if Keston gets discharged. It turned out to be a mighty long wait as the doctor had other patients waiting and somehow the nurse who took our report in, just left it at a table and did not give to the doctor. Case of miscommunication, we ended up waiting for over an hour just for 1 minute with the doctor. It was already 12noon, almost time for Keston's lunch and he still had not napped. He started getting cranky and wanting to be carried, yet not wanting to sleep. By the time we finally got to see the doctor, it was 12.45pm already!!! Blood test results were good. Everything's back to normal and Keston got discharged.

Rushed down to the foodcourt and Keston kept whining until he saw his porridge. Then he very excitedly start banging on his stroller. But, here comes the funny part...after taking maybe 5 spoons, his eyes suddenly shut and his head lolled off. He'd fallen asleep while eating!!! But when I brought the spoon to his mouth, he'd pry open his eyes and chomped on the spoon. Then immediately closed his eyes and fell asleep again. This happened repeatedly and we couldn't stop laughing. It's like he's hungry and sleepy at the same time and trying to fulfill both his needs. After a few more spoons, we decided to not to disturb him anymore and let him sleep.

The rest of the day was spent shopping in Sim Lim & PS and due to parking problems, we decided to take public transport. This little charmer went around picking up girls and middle aged men! On the bus, I was sandwiched between 2 China students and he kept turning alternating between them and flashing them shy smiles, garnering all the 好可爱！And then there was an angmor man opposite us who also kept making faces at him and playing with him. The China students were so enthralled by Keston that one of them kept on playing with him when we were all exiting...so much so she forgot to tap her ezlink card and ran up the bus again in embarrassment! Haha

Throughout the day, I think at least 5 middle aged men stopped to play with him for at least 5 mins each! I hope it's not because of any paedophelic appeal! haha! Girls I can understand...but middle aged men? Hmmm

So anyway the poor kid was busy looking at everything and anyone that he went on to miss his afternoon nap! We'd brought his stroller along but not his carrier so it was impossible to turn his attention away from all the stimulation. And because he did not nap, by evening time, he became very cranky and needy again. Just when we reached PS, our doe-eyed cheeky boy just conked off. One second he was sitting upright and looking everywhere, next second he went all quiet. We peeped and he was sound asleep! He continued sleeping while Mummy went to Spotlight, Daddy went to Starhub and finally to Carrefour. He slept all the way till we reached Cathay and had our dinner. He only woke up when we were just finishing dinner. By that time it was 8.30pm-- way past his dinner! So he woke up and thought 'Wtf? I'm damn hungry!' and cried! Haha...whipped out the porridge and he gobbled it all down.

After dinner, we were treated to our first public display of Keston throwing a tantrum. There's this water fountain in the middle of the floor and Keston squelled when he saw it. So I brought him to sit by the fountain. He was happily waving and kicking his legs and laughing. After awhile, we wanted to leave and he started crying, struggling, kicking and all sorts of nonsense. I relented and brought him to the fountain again and he laughed. Let him look at the fountain for a few more minutes and then we were like 'Let's go!'. Die die dragged him away, ignoring his cries. Halfway up the escalator though, he was distracted by something else and promptly forgot all about the fountain he left behind.

I am already dreading toddlerhood!

Bye bye Baby Jumper Gym!

2009-09-20T09:16:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was our very last lesson with BJG. I actually felt quite sad! We've been here ever since Keston was 5+mths and it's been really fun! In all honesty, our teacher's fantastic! If we didn't get her on our trial class, we might not even have signed up so readily. We'd had a few make-up classes and relief teachers and no one else came close! Add to that, we had great company in the other parents and kids. I think my Sundays will never be the same again...
I am so gonna miss Sweet SL, Cute Craden, Jolly Jacinta...

Us not continuing after this term is in no way a testimonial of Grace's teaching ability. She's done a superb job and can really connect with the babies. So if you're interested in signing up for classes at BJG, be sure to request for Grace!!

As I mentioned in the previous post, we are discontinuing because Keston no longer seems interested in the class. He's comfortable with the teacher, and the company...but just not interested in looking at the flashcards. The teacher has to flash almost every single set individually to him cos he refuses to look. And it was getting a little tiring twisting his head and body throughout the whole lesson. I'd wish very much for him to have a sudden surge of interest (didn't happen, although he did pay a teeny weeny bit more attention during the last class) as I'd like very much to continue the class...the location is great (we can get there in 10mins)....teacher's great (have I mentioned that before?)...Keston's not afraid of the other parents (he's v scared of strangers).

Sigh! We are now considering letting Keston join BJG's playgroup in the future...

Keston @13 mths

2009-09-08T08:57:00.001-07:00

I think it's about time I updated this blog. And after I logged in, I realised I'd actually wrote an entry previously but forgot to publish it :P

Keston has turned 13 mths...how on earth did the past year fly by? Although the little one is entering toddlerhood, he's still very much a baby in our eyes.

Development-wise, I hate to admit it but K's developing very very slowly! He loves cruising, but whenever I try to hold his hands to guide him to walk, he sits down immediately. He's showing no signs of wanting to walk, no interest, na-dah! But since hearing the old wives' tales say that babies who start walking later will have a good life....I've been telling K "Don't start walking so soon!" =)

Keston still has only 6 teeth. 4 upper and 2 lower.

He has not clearly started calling anyone yet. He did start off with Mamamama long time ago, but he got bored with it and moved on to other syllabus. He was stuck with Dada for a long time, to HW's delight. But now he's stopped saying it already. His favourite word now is Babababa. There's no specific meaning to it, he looks at me and squels Bababa....he looks at his toy and says Babababa....He has managed to verbalise 'Pur' (bird) and 'Baw' (ball) on several occassions. He also sometimes barks when he hears/sees dogs.

K's hair is growing painfully slow. He's still pretty much botak, with very fine and sparse hair. We could have recitified the situation by accessorising him with caps and hats...but NO, our little friend refuses to have unnecessary additions put on him. He rips off caps and beanies with a vengeance, kicks in irritation when we put on an anklet, twists bibs off and tugs non-stop when wearing long sleeves. This boy is really a fusspot...really regret not getting him used to all these at a younger age.

K's lost all interests in flashcards. He used to love his dotcards. But I had to stop them when he was hospitalised and when I tried to get back to routine, he just wasn't keen anymore. He also used to like the words flashcards we do during BJG classes but lately, he simply refuses to look at the cards. In fact he has been paying zero attention in class for the past month and we're considering stopping the class after this term...which is such a shame as we've got a really good teacher and lovely classmates!

Since way before, we've been letting Keston try all types of formulas. He was ok with all brands of Stage 1 and Stage 2 formulas...so when I stopped expressing after he turned 1, we naturally thought he'd be able to go 100% on any formula. We were giving him Enfapro previously so of course we moved on to Enfagrow. But who knows, his milk intake dropped drastically! He'd take abt 150ml in the morning...60-90ml in the afternoon and reject the night feed. I thought he hated milk cos I thought Enfagrow actually tastes pretty nice! In the end we tried Gain IQ and he started drinking more. He takes about 450ml a day of Gain IQ. I refused to believe he'd become picky with milk brands and went on to buy Nan Pro 3. And *snap*, his intake dropped drastically again! Tried for like a week before HW buey tahan and went to buy another tin of Gain IQ....and voila! K's milk intake went up again! This boy damn picky!

Solids-wise, the boy is eating like a grown man! He takes 1.5-2 big bowls of thick porridge per meal..and if you offer him snacks after, he'd still open his mouth for more! Perhaps that is why I enjoy cooking for him! I love making stock for his porridge. I started off making pork stock, where I'll boil some pork bones along with leek. Lately I've been making vege stock..usually just throwing together whatever veges I find lurking in the fridge. It's fun, it's easy and it smells so damn good! I use the stock for making his porridge, mee sua, pasta. Breakfast is usually organic brown rice/barley cereal or rolled oats. Occasionally I'd make him pizza bread (bread with tomato paste and cheddar cheese, lightly toasted) and baby yoghurt.

Keston can now climb up and down our 2 steps (to our bed and to the living room) confidently. For awhile I was having problems putting him to sleep on our bed as he keeps trying to crawl down the bed and then pick up and throw everything in the room. It went on for 3-5 days where I have to keep pulling him back or let him have my phone so he'd stay put. Until 1 night, I told him to go and touch whatever he wanted to touch. The happy camper pulled my stack of bills/notes/books from beside my bed and scattered them all over the floor. It was such a mess and I told him sternly "You don't want to sleep right? You want to stay on the floor right? Ok, you sit in this corner and don't move!" To my amazement, he really stayed in the same spot and proceeded to wail like there's no tomorrow. HW charged in, thinking what happened cos K was crying until so cham and sitting by the door. After I cleared up the mess, then I went to pick K up and told him not to be so naughty. After that night, K stopped trying to climb off the bed everytime it's time to sleep! Trial of a naughty corner?

But Keston, being Keston, of course has to find some other ways to be cheeky. There's usually 2 bolsters, 1 pillow and a baby mickey mouse on the bed with him. He'd pick up Mickey and throw it on the floor, then look at me for a reaction. As long as I react, be it a 'Oi!' or a 'Aiyoh', he will laugh hysterically and repeat the act infinitely. So I've learned to ignore him and not pick up Mickey after he throws it. Then of course, Keston decides Mummy's not reacting because he's not throwing Mickey hard enough, and proceeds to fish up Mickey and flings it even harder. I've since learned to pretend not to see/hear a thing. Then Keston thinks 'Mummy's not bothered by Mickey...maybe she will care more about my pillow?' So he starts throwing his pillow....and this is followed by a bolster. He knows he needs 1 bolster to sleep so he will basically throw everything off the bed, leaving only 1 bolster.

At the end of the day, Keston is still a sweet baby, sometimes naughty, sometimes cheeky...but always loving and good-natured.

The little emperor turns 1

2009-08-13T10:29:00.001-07:00

We've never referred to Keston as a little prince...always as 小皇帝 which roughly translates into 'little emperor'. From the moment he was born, he's gotten everyone twirled around his little pinkie. Schedules have been messed up, leaves have been sacrificed...everything just for this little emperor.

27th July

Went to KKH for his doctor's review. Heart scan was normal, arteries did not balloon up. However, blood platelette (which causes the blood to clot) is still on the high side. The Dr said it was expected due to KD and not to worry about it but he did went on to take the test twice to confirm that yes, the blood platelette count is high. That made me quite skeptical about not worrying excessively.

And then, we also found that K has low red blood cells. Dr recommended giving more red meat and leafy vegs.

The good news of the day is, Keston has finally gained weight! At 1yr old (oh well, 1 day short), he weighs 9.2kg-- not a heavy weight but at least he broke away from the 8.5range.

28th July

Keston officially turns 1 yr old (but not till 6.16pm)! We took time off to bring him to Sentosa. It was scorching hot and we made the mistake of dressing him in polo and pants.

Keston liked watching the feeding of the birds and the bird show at the Palawan Amphitheatre...but it was really too hot and he got cranky after awhile. We left Sentosa within 2 hours and proceeded home to go for a swim.

As it turns out, Keston is NOT afraid of the water, he does NOT hate swimming afterall!!!! The last few times we brought him to the pool, he whined and whined and whined and we were convinced that he hated the cold water or just hated swimming. But but but but but....we found out he actually just hates the neck float! Without the neckfloat, he was so eager to jump into the pool himself and he had a fun time kicking and laughing away!

Keston's Birthday Party

2009-08-01T09:05:00.000-07:00

Long overdue pictures BECAUSE blogspot kept having problems with uploading pictures! I'm gonna postdate this to pretend I uploaded these much earlier :P

Hiccupy birthday preparation

2009-07-31T10:08:00.000-07:00

The run-up to Keston's birthday was pretty rocky.

Weeks before his party, I'd bought a Mickey Mouse singing balloon cos (a) he loves Mickey Mouse (b) he loves silly songs. We'd already planned to have the balloon inflated at the florist in Far East Plaza on the day before his birthday-do. The florist was closed at 5pm so we went in at 4pm to fill the balloon with helium. The florist had never seen this type of balloon before and insisted there was a tube missing from the mouth of the balloon and it cannot be inflated. We panicked, thinking the balloon is faulty and we didn't have time to buy another balloon! Luckily I managed to get hold of the seller of the balloon and was assured that the design was correct and would inflate correctly. However, we were still abit scared that the florist would burst the balloon. In the end, following instructions from the seller, we managed to get the balloon inflated. Problem came, problem solved.

I'd ordered some profiteroles for the birthday-do and arranged to do collection on Saturday night as we'd have to be in that area to pick up Keston's birthday cake. Just before we set off, I checked my email and got a msg that the profiteroles seller had something urgent on and would not be able to meet me. Panic again cos there's no way I'd be able to make it to Seng Kang on Sunday morning and be back in time for the do. Luckily the seller was apologetic enough and agreed to deliver on Sunday morning.

And then came the journey to Punggol-Sengkang. We have never been on the KPE. We have never been to Punggol-Sengkang area and it might as well have been a completely different country. HW was nervous bout getting into the KPE because he's basically an angsty driver. He needs to know exactly where and how to get to places. I thought I jotted down precise instructions but when we reached a fork, we were stunned . I believe 1 side said Tampines and the other Pasir Ris-- which to me, sounded like the same place. Thankfully we decided on Tampines in that instantaneous moment and it proved correct. It didn't help that the movement- activated singing balloon keeps bursting into song throughout the journey. Gave us both a few heart attack....after collecting the cake, we thought we knew exactly how to get back onto the KPE but ended up lost again!!! Haiz...

Sunday morning, I left $68 with HW to pay for the profiteroles while I went to shower. I came out of the shower and HW says the seller came to deliver and collected only $28 from him. I was suspicious, went to check and realised the seller delivered eclairs instead of profiteroles!!! Arrghhh...quickly sms-ed her to inform her of the error but she never replied. Hmmphh! But thankfully the eclairs were yumz!

I will blog separately about the birthday itself.

Mommy's cooking dinner

2009-07-24T09:31:00.000-07:00

See, the thing is I can't cook. I don't mean I can't whip up a gourmet meal. I simply can't cook. I can go as far as instant noodles and at the very best, spaghetti with instant meat sauce.

When Keston was due to start on his solids, I began looking fervently for exact instructions on how to cook porridge. I mean exact as in the number of grains, the amount of water, etc. Eventually when mil offered to cook his porridge on weekdays and my mum on weekends, I simply shelved my cooking plans.

But now that Keston's turning 1 already, I decided I should do my part and cook for him. Part of the reason is mil brings over his dinner in the morning and I've heard how terrible it is for anyone to eat porridge that's been sitting there for a long time. HW was not v supportive of me cooking...he's convinced I'll make something inedible and he thinks it's better for K to eat stale porridge than my cooking! Hmmphhh!

Anyway, I put my foot down and decided I MUST cook for Keston whenever I'm home. So, armed with detailed instructions on how to make Pork Stock from Catherine, I prepared the stock 2 days ago and froze the lot into my babycubes. First mistake there, I should have just froze them in plastic bags so I can throw the bag away. The stock made my cubes so oily that I'm tempted to throw them away. Probably because I didn't sieve out the oil properly :P

The next step was to find the most comprehensive, detailed recipe for porridge. I followed some basic steps from littlegastronomy and improvised a little myself. And voila! I made porridge! Not bad if I say so myself :) Made a mistake of not mashing the peas first. I'd thought they'd be all soft and mushy by the time I'm done but nah, they were still quite crunchy.

I used 2 (and abit more) chinese soup spoons of grains and got about 1.5 bowl of porridge. Keston wallop everything, even some of the peas which I managed to mash up. He didn't eat most of the peas though cos he's too impatient to wait for me to mash them.

Fallen angel

2009-07-19T09:15:00.000-07:00

A few months back, there was 1 night when Keston was sleeping with me on my bed. A loud thud woke me up in the middle of the night and I leaped up to find Keston lying on the floor, and still sound asleep! It's not as bad as it sounds because mine is a platform bed and there are basically 2 steps to the floor. What is amazing is that he managed to bump bump down 2 steps and remain sleeping.

Last night, K was on my bed again. I got jolted awake in the wee hours and panicked cos I couldn't find K beside me. I kept patting the space beside me to make sure it wasn't just the short-sightedness.....eventually I widened the scope of my vision and found him lying with his head by my foot and his legs near my tummy.... close to the edge of the bed where I didn't put any pillows. Not wanting to wake him, I went back to sleep with 1 hand on his leg. Awhile later, I felt his legs sliding away from me. I sat up and the most incredulous thing happened. I got to see how he rolls off the bed and remain sleeping!!

I swear this happened in slow motion. First his head lolls off the edge and ended up 1 step down...then his shoulders slumped over and drops down as well...the momentum (or gravity) causing his back to roll over and his tummy lands down...lastly followed by the clumsy tumbling of his limbs. And instantaneously I see him tucking himself into his sleeping position and continues sleeping on the floor! Soo funny!

PHOTO updates!

2009-07-12T17:43:00.000-07:00

Photo intensive post because Blogspot had not been allowing the posting of photos for some time now!

Graduating from another term in BJG
Keston with Teacher Grace

The Kawasaki incident
Bathing with his favourite turtle
At the playground
Playing Air Guitar
K loves to play peek-a-boo with the curtains-- by himself!
Deep in thought, probably scheming something naughty!
The night I caught a burglar
Getting a haircut

Sedated to do his heart scan. He's totally concussed here, which is why we could put his sunglasses on. Just for fun :)

Eating, Clapping and a Heart Scan

2009-07-07T00:26:00.000-07:00

When Keston was in hospital, he was a fussy eater and refused to eat his porridge most of the time. We ended up stuffing him with Pigeon and Gerber's baby snacks to fill him up. At the same time, I made my Mum 'teach' him to feed himself. It worked. He finally learned to pick up his food and cram it into his mouth after a day or 2.

A few days ago, Keston suddenly looked at his plastic ball and said 'Voll Boll' and then proceeded to pick it up. He's repeated this a few times now but not consistently yet.

Yesterday evening, Keston also started clapping his hands. I tell you I've been trying to teach him to clap for months! I'll sing 'If you're happy and you know it, clap your hands...' and either clap my hands or clap his hands. And he'd just laugh and make no attempt to try it out. I'd randomly say 'Yay! Yay! Clap Hands!' and attempt to get him to clap to no avail. Then yesterday evening when I was trying to get him to take a nap, he started clapping! First he stared at his left hand and brought his right hand over to slap it. Then again and again...I was trying to quietly get him to sleep but could not help smiling and commending him. I said "Clever!" and he laughed and clapped harder. I kept going Clever and he kept laughing and clapping more and more enthusiastically, bringing both hands together at the same time.

He repeated this again when I was trying to put him down for the night. The weird thing is, he REFUSES to clap hands when I'm not trying to get him to sleep...I think the naughty fella just doesn't want to nap and tries to distract me. Nevermind that he's only clapping at 11mths+, he's super proud of himself! His face lights up as he stares at his hands. He seems to be thinking 'OMG I am so clever!' lol! Now the problem is, he starts clapping everytime he's supposed to nap or sleep...and I need to encourage him so he will not stop doing it. In the process, we both get a little too loud and inch further away from sleepyland. Sigh!

On another note, we went for K's 1st heartscan yesterday. He had to have his pulse taken (I think it's the pulse they're after) via this little stapler look-alike on his toe. He hated it in hospital and when he saw it again, he started screaming. Seeing how 'unstable' he is, the sonographer suggested we get him sedated. This is damn strange. He took the oral sedatives and fell asleep about 30mins later. And no power on earth could wake him up!! It's not a GA or LA, just a sedative but damn powerful! The scan went well, or at least the Sonographer says it looks fine. But we had to wait for K to wake up before we can leave the place. I kept poking him and pulling his toes but he wouldn't budge. So I took a hospital mask and wrapped it around his mouth/nose and put sunglasses on his face just for fun. He looked so funny that people were staring when we strolled him around the hospital grounds...

So anyway, the good news is the heart scan looked ok. We will get a more detailed explanation during our doctor's appt end of this month (a day before K turns 1, so please let it be good news)..and we have another scan to do in 3mths time.

The bad news is, K lost weight again!!! He's shrunk to 8.4 - 8.5kg (we got different measurements each time we put him on the scale). I don't understand why as he's been eating well since we got discharged. The only thing different is he had his hair cut the day before. But how can his hair weigh 500g!?

3rd tooth emerges...

2009-06-30T17:44:00.000-07:00

Before the whole KD debacle, I suspected K was teething due to the fever (ahem) and excessive drooling. Sure enough, after a long wait, his upper tooth finally emerged! Phew! Now he can hopefully have 4 little teeth to accompany him for his birthday!

...the road to recovery...

2009-06-29T20:16:00.000-07:00

After the IVIG was administered, K's symptoms cleared and he made a miraculous turnaround. Suddenly, he was all hyper and happy again. So much so that he pulled the drip off his hand and ended up having his blood squirt in all directions. Damn scary and disgusting at the same time. Thankfully, the nurse chose to respond quickly to my distress call and rescued us from the pool of blood.

Oh, and K was mistaken for a girl again!!! Several times!!!

As of Sunday, K has been discharged from the hospital. We have to give him a daily dose of Aspirin and hope for the best during his heart scan next week. I've also gone abit mad buying baby supplements...I've stocked up on ChildLife products like the Colostrum with Probiotics, Cod Liver Oil, First Defense. They all have similar functions-- to build up the immune system and to protect against viruses.

Update on stats:

On the day he was admitted, at 10mths 24days, K was 8.445kg-- almost the same as 2mths ago!

A couple of days before discharge, at 10mths 27days, K was 9.06kg-- how it happened was a

mystery since he was surviving mainly on the drip.

On the day of discharge, at exactly 11mths, K was 8.9kg and 78cm tall.

Kawasaki

2009-06-25T21:13:00.000-07:00

It started off with fever. One morning I woke up and felt Keston feverish. His temperature was over 38 deg. I was reluctant to give him any paracetamol at first cos I've read some articles which discouraged dosing paracetamol. Anyways, after a day or so, I relented as watering and sponging him did not bring down the fever at all. He was slightly cranky but pretty much ate, drank and played as normal.

After a day or 2 of paracetamol, the fever was still high....higher in fact. And he started developing a couple of red rash on his chest and face, which we thought were mozzie bites.

The next day, Keston did not drink much milk for his morning feed and his fever shot up to over 40 degrees. That's when we pressed the panic buton. Rushed down to KKH and being a Tuesday morning, the A&E was virtually deserted. Probably also partly because of his high fever, Keston got to see a doctor immediately. By then, his chest and stomache had developed a full rash and the area above his eyes were red. His hands and feet were also reddish and cold. We did a blood test and collected urine sample. (Interesting point: How on earth do you collect urine samples for a baby? They stick this plastic bag thingumy over his penis inside the diaper and you have to constantly check to see if there's any pee in the bag.) In the time we were waiting for the test results, the rash had spread down his thighs....and his hands became redder still.

The doctor suspected Urinary Tract Infection from the urine test, but that further tests would have to be done to be conclusive. During admission, I even told HW how mafan UTI is and hope it's not UTI. Thankfully we got a 1-bedder immediately, and back in our old ward. By this time Keston was super cranky and whiney. His rashes had gotten worse and his eyes were red and swollen. His face, hands and feet were puffy and did not look like him at all! This time we had to collect 2 fresh urine samples. Fresh meaning he has to pee straight into the collection bottle and not that plastic bag thingy. It was no mean feat but HW stood by opening and closing K's diaper every few seconds, armed with the sample bottle. He got the 2 samples fairly quickly.

Afternoon came and more doctors came. They eliminated the possibility of UTI based on the new urine samples, and suspected Kawasaki Disease instead. That's when I started going "Oh please let it be UTI, not Kawasaki!" I'd heard vaguely of Kawasaki a few months back during one of those random surfings I like to do. I did not know (still don't actually) anything about it, except that it is strange, elusive and dangerous. In comparisson, UTI sounded pretty ok!

Keston would have to be put on drip again as he's gotta have antibiotics and also cos he's refusing ALL food, ALL milk. This is very very painful cos they always have to poke him several times before finding a vein and we have to stand outside the door hearing him scream and cry. With the puffiness of his limbs, this task would be even harder. As expected, the first Dr did not manage to locate a vein.....so a more senior Dr was called upon. The 2nd Dr, took a fairly short time and confidently told me "It's difficult but we manged to locate a vein". Keston emerged with a splint to his foot. Come night time, his foot had swelled into a pig trotter! That's when we realise the plug was not installed properly and all the drip was pumped into dunno what part of his body. They quickly removed it and prepared another insertion. This time the plug was inserted into his right hand. The whole day, Keston had only energy for crying and whining. He hardly moved and never smiled. You could put the rail guards of the cot down and he wouldn't even try to roll, crawl or move. His fever was still consistent in the range of 39-40+ degrees. Sponging him and making him sleep on a coolmat did not help. Even after paracetamol, the fever never went down....well, it did....but to a 38+ range which is still a fever.

Wednesday, we were still waiting for the Culture test and Blood test results to be in. Our senior consultant came in to explain about Kawasaki. See? It's so elusive that after yonks of reading and explanations, I still don't quite get it. Anyway, Keston was to be observed for another 24 hours to see if his fever would go down. He would be given high dosage of Aspirin and if his fever did subside, then it probably isn't Kawasaki. We were not so lucky, his fever was still consistently high despite the regular meds, baths and water parade. Keston's face became so swollen and his eyes were small and bloody. He was almost beyond recognition. On my part, I did read up on the symptoms of Kawasaki and Keston pretty much displayed 90% of the symptoms.

Thursday, the Consultant advised us to start on the Intravenous immune globulin (IVIG) treatment. As this is a form of blood transfusion, there were certain risks involved. Although we were assured the risks would be minimal since the blood donors were screened very carefully, I could not help but worry.....especially as I had to sign the bloody consent form! It's like if anything happened, it would be my fault cos I consented to it!!!

The IVIG was administered through the drip along with Aspirin. He was wired up to the Electrocardiography machine to check if he'd have any adverse reaction. The poor baby was wired up everywhere. One hand to the drip, 1 leg to a blood pressure pump, another foot to some other test....and 3 electrodes on his body. He was super uncomfortable to look at. He had only his left hand available and he really didn't have much energy to move it anyway. This was to go on for 12hrs. Thankfully (in a way), he was so weak that he was groggy all the time...so aside from whining and crying, he did fall asleep pretty quickly and pretty often.

By evening time, he really looked much better! Most of the rashes on his face had cleared and the puffiness had cleared abit so his eyes were abit wider. He could smile a little. The fever was still there, which was abit worrying.

The IVIG was completed around 1am and the ECG and stuff were removed an hour later. Keston finally got to sleep at around 2am...but was awakened at 3am by a nurse coming in to take some measurements/readings. After that was done and he fell asleep again...I was awakened at around 4am by his persistent crying...somehow the plug had come loose and the drip was flooding his bed. His hand was swelling up. Sigh~ Back to finding a new vein to insert the plug. Thank God it didn't take too long and I was able to put him back to bed at around 4.30am. Then he was awakened at 7.30am again for aspirin. Sigh~ Not enough sleep (both Keston and I)!

On a positive note, Keston did not have any bad reaction to the IVIG. And his fever went down after the IVIG was completed. As of now, 12 hours later, he still does not have a fever. His fever has to stay down for the next 24 hours, or....I can't remember or what. But let's just pray his fever will not come back for awhile. After which, the dosage of aspirin will be lowered and he should hopefully be discharged on Sunday.

On a negative note, we'll never have an all-clear from the disease. It may relapse anytime. We have to come back in a week's time to do tests on his heart...and another one in 3 months' time. In the meantime he will have to be on aspirin daily...until the cows come home.

Please keep Keston in your prayers. Pray for his full recovery and that he won't develop any heart conditions. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

What fine motor skills?

2009-06-20T09:46:00.000-07:00

Keston is now a week short of 11 months. Should I be concerned that he doesn't know how to wave or clap??? Not that I'm not teaching him hor...I clap my hands, his hands, sing song,etc. and he just cannot be bothered to follow! Bleah! I think I have a very lazy boy here. He'd rather be entertained than to entertain. Keston can do the pincer grasp but refuses to feed himself. He's got a problem with holding onto things. He usually grab things and drops/throws them...unless the object in question is his pacifier, then he'd stuff it into his mouth. Anything else, he'd drop in a second. His fine motor skills ah...really cannot make it!

Also, although his first words were Mama (or to be exact MMmmmmmMaMa)....he's stopped saying that for a month or more already. Nowsadays, he only goes 'dadadadada', sometimes ending it with a 'deee' and 'bababababa', which means bao bao (carry). Occasionally he goes 'yayayayaya' as well. HW is secretly proud that Keston identifies him as dada. I would bring Keston to a photo of his daddy (with other people), point at HW and ask "Who is this?" and Keston would smile/chuckle and go "dada", sometimes "daddee". Sometimes I'd try to point at other people in the photo and repeat the same question and he'd give me a blank look. See? He knows that's his dada! But what about Mommy? So jealous siah...I mean, I'm his favourite person in the whole wide world and he doesn't think that calling me would be a nice reward? Pthhh

Gross motors wise, he's developing fine. He moves very fast on all 4s, especially when he thinks we're chasing him. He pulls himself up every chance he gets and cruises, albeit only when he's in the mood. He knows how to crawl up and down steps (head first). Nevermind lah Keston, develop at your own pace. Mommy's just complaining for fun. We still love you anyway!

Top 10 Useless Baby Products

2009-06-15T00:53:00.001-07:00

Being a new parent means you are exposed to a whole new shopping sphere. Sometimes we buy things because it's 'oh-so-cute', sometimes 'die-die-must-get' and sometimes just because.

Obviously I've ended up with stuff that just didn't work for us. So here's my list of top 10 useless baby products, in no particular order.

Disclaimer: Useless to me, but may be useful to others...

1. Pee-Pee Teepee

Their slogan's actually "The Pee-pee Teepee for the Sprinkling Wee-wee". With such a cutesy name, who can resist? I came across this before we knew Keston's sex...and I actually hoped to have a boy just so I could buy and use this!

It's basically a cone-shaped flannel cloth with cute designs meant to be placed over the baby's wee-wee when he pee-pees. I was sold on the idea and convinced that if I did not use this, I was gonna get a faceful of pee everytime I change Keston's diapers.

So when we got back from the hospital, I very excitedly placed 1 piece by the bedside. The first time we used it, either by the sheer force of his pee or his squirmy butt motions, the pee-pee teepee did not stay in place. It fell off within 2 seconds. I convinced myself that the next time it would work. But sadly no, and subsequently we were treated to some pee projectile action. In defense, we just grabbed a nearby cloth to cover the offensive area. And whatdya know? The cloth works! The cloth works! A simple, cheap, rag works better and it doesn't cost me US$11 (excluding shipping)! After making a mere cameo appearance of less than 5 times, the pee-pee teepee has been banished to some deep dark corner of the baby cupboard never to be seen again.

2. Cloth Diapers and Liners

When attending antenatal classes, I was convinced that cloth diapering was the ONLY way to go. It is not only greener, but saves a heck lot of money. Plus, it's really easy...or so I thought. Mrs Wong told us not to bother with the likes of Bumwear cos using the cloth napkin is so convenient. And cheap! But when you have a newborn who needs to be changed NOW and you're terrified of the attack of the projectile, who has time to slowly wrap the cloth napkin and pray hard for it to stay in place?! We told everyone we'd start with the cloth diapering when Keston's a little older and not so demanding. But 10mths down the road, the liners are still sealed in the box. The cloth napkins made an early appearance as blankets and bedspreads. But now, even they are banished into that deep dark corner of the cupboard.

3. Baby Monitor
Baby Monitors are an essential on every single baby list out there so of course we just had to get a set. I mean, it's an essential right? So off we went....neglecting the fact that the baby's room is just literally 3 steps from ours! In the beginning we dutifully turned the monitor on all day, all night. Even if I was sitting right beside the cot, the monitor would be on. For what? I really have no idea. Eventually we accepted the fact that we had perfect hearing and could hear baby's cry for help very clearly without having any aided amplification. And after awhile we turned off the monitor. Wasted too much batteries (didn't want to have any electricity near the cot) and we didn't want to be awakened by every little gasp and snore. These babies, however, have not been banished into that deep dark corner yet. They are still dutifully attached-- 1 at the cot, and 1 in our room....pretending to be functioning, although batteries have been removed and no electricity is plugged in.

4. Fisher-price Stack & Roll Cups

This toy promised great things.

Baby can learn so much through basic play, and these stackable, nestable, fit-together-and-roll-around cups offer endless versatility for lots of enriching discoveries. Includes 10 colorful cups to grasp, stack or nest, with grooved surfaces for a snug fit and easy stacking. Different colors, sizes and numbers help build early identification skills. A smiling jingle ball nests inside any cup, or fits on top of a whole stack!

BUT it just didn't interest Keston. He's not interested in stacking 'em together...and only mildly interested when we form little balls out of them. The only thing he does with it is to topple it over so the biggest red cup falls off. And then he uses the rim of the red cup to scrape across the marble flooring, creating the most skin-prickling screech. I would then snatch it from him and hide it so he would stop scraping it across the floor.

5. Fisher-price Kick n Whirl Carnival gymSee this post http://kestonchan.blogspot.com/2008/12/keston-and-his-gyms.html
In a gist, Keston's so afraid of this gym that he shitted in his pants...it has since been sold away to make way for other toys.

6. FlatOut Bear

I am very very reluctant to list this here. I first heard about this luxurious bear from Shimin. On reading up on it, it seemed like such a wonderful bear and having many celeb fans didn't hurt its credentials.

Unfortunately our little guy has absolutely no time for his new furry friend. He gave it a customary feel the first time I introduced the bear to him and that's about it. He flings it aside when I put it near him when he's falling asleep. Initially, on a couple of occasions, Keston did reach out for the bear when he fell asleep. But after that, he couldn't be bothered with the bear anymore. Sometimes I'd tuck the bear into his arms when he's asleep and somehow he knows cos within minutes he'd fling it aside......It's now a permanent resident on my bed instead.

7. Taggies

Taggies® were created by an early childhood educator & mother of three. Taggies blankets are a lovey security blanket based on the idea that babies and kids love to rub satin edges, clothing labels and tags. Taggies offer babies and kids a generous assortment of tags which are designed to be both tactile and visually stimulating. Every Taggies tag looks or feels different. We call Taggies an "interactive Tagged blanket" because it provides the child with both an exciting activity and at the same time it is their cuddly, soft lovey security blanket. Your little one will love this children's security blanket.

Apparently children are supposed to love their little taggies. So I ordered one for little Keston. It's a lovely piece with pawprints on one side, minky on the other side and adorned with his name as well. It's so cute and I adored the idea of Keston being like Linus (from peanuts), dragging his little taggies blankie with him everywhere. Sod's law. Keston wants nothing to do with it! He tosses it aside everytime I place it in his path. It is nothing but a mere obstruction in his little world.

8. Prince Lionheart BebePod Seat
We didn't have a bumbo seat cos we had this handed down to us. So I dunno if it's due to the difference in structures/functions or Keston's just...different. It didn't help him to sit up at all. Whenever Keston was placed into the seat, he'd just slump forward. Or else he'd pull and throw the knob in between. In short, it did nothing at all and we returned it after a short stint. Keston eventually learned to sit up by himself in his own time.

9. Cot Mobile

Our cot mobile came free with the purchase of the cot. So we didn't get to buy one of those fanciful musical lighting type of cot mobiles. Ours was a simple wind-up and go mobile , much like the picture above. Needless to say, our little friend was not impressed. He barely looked at it and couldn't be bothered to reach out to pull it.

10. Siliskin Silicon Glass Bottle Protector
After the initial BPA scare, we decided to go the glass bottle way. Then of course I read about this product and was convinced that if we didn't get this, we're gonna burn ourselves everytime we hold the bottles because glass is such a great conductor of heat. Right, the glass bottles are indeed hotter than the plastic bottles and yes, the Siliskin did a great job of insulating the heat away. BUT....it's really quite difficult to pull the siliskin on and off and almost impossible to read the markings accurately. So in the end, we just pulled off all the skins and stuck to the naked bottle.

Ah boy or Ah ger?

2009-05-19T00:29:00.000-07:00

During this stay at the hospital, I was amused to find Keston being mistaken for a girl on quite a few occassions! A couple of the doctors referred to him as "SHE". One of them was consistently going "She blah blah blah and her blah blah..." I would then reply her clearly without trying to cause any embarrasment "He blablablabla and his blablablabla.." But she didn't take the hint and carried on referring to Keston as a girl. She must be thinking this mummy's English so jialat, keep referring to her 'daughter' as a He. Hmmmm

And then a nurse who was assisting me in switching wards was gushing about Keston saying "Ger ger so cute" I said "Erm actually he's a boy." And she quickly apologised. I wasn't offended lah, but just curious....just because he's dressed in unisex hospital gown then cannot tell his gender already? I always thought he's a very boyish boy!! I really feel like dressing him up as a girl to see the effect ley!

Back to KKH

2009-05-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

In case you've been on Planet Mars, we did indeed go back to KKH. Must rename as KKHotel liao, cos that's what it feels like. Kindda.

On Monday, Keston had fever again...he was extremely cranky, refused his milk feeds and ate porridge very sparsely. Drank less than 200ml whole day.

Tuesday, fever still going on-off. Hardly any wet diapers. Still refusing milk and extremely cranky.

Wednesday. Same thing. Couldn't stand it anymore so went back to KKH. Dr says he has tears when he cries and drools alot so he's not dehydrated. Understands my concerns about the lack of urine and agrees to admit him again.

At admission counter, I was pissed to find there were no more vacancies for A1 ward. They only had B4 and C wards left!!!! I was so upset I nearly shouted at the staff cos I never expected the hospital to run out of rooms!? I calmed down and read the description of the room, but somehow I read B4+ instead (which was a 5-bedder, aircon and attached bathroom). And I thought, ok still can tahan for 1 day cos I was put on waitlist for A1 ward...and I expected to transfer to A1 ward by the next day. On entering the ward, I got a shock. First of all, there were 6 beds and secondly, no air-con! Thirdly, no attached bathroom!! Then I realised there was B4+ and B4. Bo pian, just had to make do. I'm not sure why, but it never occured to me at that point to change to another hospital.

Still upset over the ward, I told my mum loudly "How is Keston gonna be able to sleep? If other kids cry, he sure wake up!" To which she reminded me of the ages of the other occupants. If anything, Keston will be the one disturbing them. Oops. The other occupants were all pri or sec students! Heh! True enough, Keston was the only one making noise throughout the day/night. Evening came, a doc came by to put the drip on Keston. Made me wait for half an hour and ended up failure. Closer to midnight, another doc came to try to administer the drip. This time we timed. It took more than an hour and still they failed to locate his veins. The poor boy has so many polka dots on his hand and cried till his voice was hoarse.

Morning came and at 7.30am sharp, the nurses came by to pull open all the curtains and forced me to wake up. WTF! Cannot let me wake at my own pace meh? Anyway, true enough there were available A1 wards now and we were transferred back to our previous ward 86. Night came, another doctor came to try to administer the drip and again failed and basically told me he's been poked too many times already. Then after midnight another doctor came and told me they could stick some tubing up the baby's nose so we can force feed. I told her to wait till morning cos he's sleeping. But she kept trying to convince me to wake him NOW and do it now. I said no, let him sleep. She said ok let him sleep for another hour then wake him up. I insisted that we let him sleep till morning first. I went back to sleep and another doctor came and adviced me again to put the tube in now. I told him baby already very hungry, I don't want him to be hungry and tired so please let him sleep. Then finally they let me be.

Friday morning. The 'proper' paed came and she adviced to monitor his feeding for the day. Frankly most of the doctors don't believe Keston's not feeding well cos' he's extremely active and alert. Baby still wasn't drinking v well or peeing much. But drank a bit more so I was abit comforted. Started him on some flu medications for his runny nose.

Sat morning, our previous paed came and showered praises on Keston again. The last time he was in, she kept going on about how adorable he is. This time, she kept saying he's so gorgeous and kept asking me to send him for baby contest. Anyway she said not to be too worried about milk and just to make sure he's taking fluids.

And so on, finally got to discharge on Sunday. Frankly, this hospital stay was really quite unnecessary. Nothing was done there except we got milk on demand and baby got many people to play with him.

I've observed a few things though. People generally stereotype the patients in the 'lousier' wards to be in the low income group and thus speak Mandarin. On the 2nd day we were there (before changing wards) these 2 NUS med students-- 1 Chinese and 1 Indian, tentatively approached me. The Chinese girl spoke haltingly in Mandarin 'Errr ni jiang hua yu ma?'. When I replied her in fluent English, she eased up considerably. They were doing some research on baby ages. Anyway, I digress. Rich people (not me) cannot stay in B wards meh? The doctors standards in the 2 wards differ as well. And get this, the vending machine outside the B ward sells 40cents cup drinks. But the vending machine outside the A ward sells $1+ can drinks. lol!

Would I stay in B ward again? No way. The shared bathroom is disgusting. And I don't appreciate being woken before I want to wake.

And up the stairs we go...

2009-05-12T22:53:00.000-07:00

Discovered yesterday that Keston knew how to climb stairs...well, steps actually! He kept crawling from his playmat in the living room to the platform, climb up the platform to get to his jumperoo!

A couple of times he even crawled up the 2 steps that separated the living area from the foyer. Without assistance!

Update on his health. He's still not drinking or eating well. The poor little boy...I can hear his stomache rumbling and yet he still doesn't wanna drink and takes loads of coaxing to get him to eat anything...didn't really pee yesterday either. Have half a mind to send him back to KKH...

Skinny boy

2009-05-11T04:02:00.001-07:00

Back from the docs. Keston now weighs 8.1kg, 400grams down from more than a month ago. This can't be good!

Happy Mother's Day

2009-05-10T04:40:00.001-07:00

The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new. ~Rajneesh

Sickness overhaul

2009-05-08T20:45:00.001-07:00

The last 2 weeks have been nothing short of a mediacorp-type drama!

A week after Keston recovered from the bout of high fever, I fell sick myself.

On Tuesday I woke up feeling fine. By midday, I felt my body aching everywhere and a general weakness in bodily functions. Took my temperature at night and it was 38+ degrees. Popped panadol, did the usual baby routine and went to sleep. Consistently took panadol but by Wednesday afternoon, fever still persistently high. Went to see doctor, costed me a whooping $60+ to be told I have the flu. Went home and continued with my panadol and other flu-type meds but stubborn fever refused to go down. Bad sore throat and blocked nose developed. Thursday went to see another doctor to get a fever jab. Costed me $80+ this time. Bodyaches disappeared and fever went down. Horror started. I did not sleep all night. I don't mean tossing and turning and falling asleep fleetfully...I simply could not fall asleep. I laid in bed with my eyes closed from 10pm and I was fully aware of everything around me until 6am the next morning. So when Keston stirred in the middle of the night, I could get up pronto to pat him back to sleep. Friday woke up with no fever. Yay! But by evening time, started feeling cold and odd again. Temperature went up to 38+ again. Horror continued, I still could not sleep! Felt so exhausted due to no sleep the previous night, and fever and flu. Medicines made me drowsy but I could not fall asleep. Saturday, brought Keston over to my parents place. The plan was so I could rest and sleep at home. I laid in bed all afternoon, all evening and sleep refused to come....I tried counting sheep but it took me some time to conjure up an image of a nice docile sheep. Then I decided to count horses instead but then decided the clippity-clop may be a tad too energetic. Then I decided to count Kestons but that made me smile and didn't do the trick. So I went back to counting sheep but couldn't decide if the sheep should be jumping over a hurdle or just trod past. Anyway you get the idea, I didn't get to sleep again. No sleep for more than 48 hours and my eyes were bloodshot and swollen. I was terrified that I couldn't sleep for the 3rd night running. When I tried blowing my nose, my eyes actually hurt so bad. I was still having fever.

By Saturday night, I decided to see another doctor to find out if something is actually wrong with me and also to try to get some sleeping pills. Doctor said fever can take up to 1 week to go off and I was only on day 5. Then he gave me some flu pills that were 'guaranteed' to make me fall asleep. Guess what? It didn't work, so I had my 3rd sleepless night in a row. Sunday morning came and my eyes hurt so bad. Previously I thought baby being sick was one of the hardest things to bear. I take that back. Mummy being sick is a hundred times worse cos I just could not conjure up any energy to take care of Keston. I could barely smile at him, and I could barely open my eyes to look at him. It was that bad.

Sunday. Again stayed home to try to get some sleep. Keston by this time was a tad bit feverish (37+)....did not get any sleep. Evening time, Dad called to say Keston's fever soared to 39.6 degrees. Panicked and asked them to send him to KKH. HW came home to pick me up to meet them there. The wait was horrendous...I think it took him more than 1 hour to get to the first counter that takes your temperature and your basic details. In the time we were there, his temperature went down considerably to below 37 degrees so we decided to bring him home. Yep after waiting over an hour, we decided to go home. That night, I finally managed to fall asleep! BUT Keston kept waking up all night so I might as well have gotten no sleep.

Monday. Keston woke up all cranky. Not his usual happy self. Took abit of milk and stayed cranky. My eyes still hurt and I still needed my rest, tried to soothe him and play with him. He refused to smile and kept whining. Brought him over to mils so I could stay home to rest. Went over in the evening to get him and she said he was v cranky and refused to drink milk or eat or sleep. He was truly not his usual self and I got worried. After much procrastination, decided to send him down to KKH again. His temperature was now 38.3 degrees. The wait to the first counter was much quicker this time-- 30mins? Then another 15mins to register him. The wait for a doctor was horrendous-- probably 2hrs at least!! And this is in the children's emergency! In all this time Keston refused to drink milk and he kept crying cos I think he was really hungry but just didn't want to drink. We couldn't dream what went wrong with him....suspected teething but this was getting abit extreme. After what seemed like forever, we finally got to see a doctor who inspected and found ulcers in his mouth. He suspects HFMD. WTF!? Keston had rashes on the dorsum of his hand and feet, no fluid filled blisters what. But still, because he was refusing his foods, the doctor suggested we admit him so he can get hydrated via a drip.

Admission was another horror, wait so long even though there weren't many/any people waiting. By the time we actually got up to the ward, it was already past midnight and I had a very hungry and sleepy kid on hand. I was told 'the doctor is coming'. When I cuddled Keston, he fell asleep (he was that tired) so I quickly tucked him into bed. Half an hour later, I asked and was told again 'The doctor is coming'. 'When? Anytime tonight?'. 'Yes. He's seeing 1 patient now, you are next.'. This blur doctor took another half an hour to appear. He woke poor Keston up to inspect his rashes and ulcers and the poor baby started crying again. Then v abrubtly the doctor just left. I was again told that they are preparing to put the drip on. I managed to get Keston to fall asleep again. 15mins passed, I asked 'Is the drip coming tonight or tomorrow?'. 'It's on the way.'

I very naively thought I could go home and sleep and come back the next day! hahaha..that was how much I needed to sleep. But they told me Keston needs someone with him, so I shoo-ed everyone home. By then it was 2+am. After some time, the same blur doctor appeared again, I think to put in the tube for the drip. They chased me out of the room and Keston was screaming away while they tried to poke him. It was VERY disturbing when I kept hearing the blur doctor asking the nurse 'Why like that ah?' After a very distressing 15mins, the doctor abrubtly left. No one told me what they'd been doing. And I found my crying son with a red mark on his foot but no drip. Asked again 'Is the drip coming?'. 'Yes. They are making arrangements.'

Put Keston to sleep again and 30mins later, another female doctor appeared. She was seemingly more experienced and did not chase me out of the room to poke Keston's foot. She managed to get whatever hole she needed amidst the crying and thrashing. Again put Keston to sleep and another half an hour later, the holy drip finally arrived. Keston was awakened again while they poke the drip in. Wah liao! Finally! Finally he can sleep in peace. Somehow we made it to morning and Keston was cranky. Lack of sleep, no food, what to expect right?

Tuesday. Keston still not drinking milk and took only a bare minimum of porridge. Not in good mood all day.

Wednesday. Keston drank a little bit of milk and took more porridge. Drip was removed in the afternoon. Kept forcing him to drink milk but he refused. But was in better mood.

Thursday. Drank more milk to start the day. Less than usual amount but more than past few days. Doctor wanted to discharge him but I wanted to stay another day just in case. Cos he was still not drinking/eating as normal. Keston more or less back to normal playful self. Nurses kept stopping in to play with him.

Friday. Finally discharged from hospital. Still not drinking alot of milk, think the teat is poking at one of his ulcers. Eats more porridge. Very playful again.

Back home, drinking very erratic. He's generally more willing to take his milk when we are with him for the first 2 feeds. The rest of the milk feeds are sparse and few. His daily intake has gone down from 800ml to about 500ml. Poor boy has started coughing v badly after discharging from hospital.

Fever

2009-04-19T20:40:00.000-07:00

The boy has been down with high fever for the past few days. It started on Wednesday...when the ils went to pick him up from IFC, they felt he was v warm. For some reason that baffles us, they did not tell us about it till we came home much much later. They had a nice new bottle of infant paracetamol sitting in their fridge but they did not think to tell us anything.....

Anyway, we came home and his temperature was 38.6 deg which shocked me cos he rarely even goes above 36 deg!!! He's usually such a cool boy....this was followed by constant feeding of paracetamol and sponging him throughout the night. His temperature would go down after taking the medicine but would shoot up again once the next dose is due. This continued till Friday afternoon when he finally stabilised back to below 37 deg. Phew.

On a positive side, Keston was pretty much his active talkative self despite the high fever. Thank God.

No more bo gei!

2009-04-13T20:50:00.000-07:00

Took some photos of Keston pulling himself up on the bedrail. His bed has already been lowered but still looks dangerous so we've brought it another 2 levels down.

Keston's first tooth finally erupted (or going to erupt). I was feeding him his apple puree this morning when I noticed the little pearlie white poking out of his lower gum. Tried very hard to take a photo using the macro option but either he refused to open his mouth, or he was grabbing the camera...this was the best I could manage. Can't really see, but I swear it's there!

Happy Easter

2009-04-12T08:33:00.000-07:00

First up, a very Happy Easter to everyone!

Keston's been hitting a few milestones over the past week or so.
First, he started getting on his knees and doing some real crawling instead of the leopard crawls he's so used to. Then, he's learned to sit up by himself from lying down position. And thirdly, he's started pulling himself up to stand.

Bravo my boy. Mummy's very proud of you!

Infantcare

2009-04-03T08:44:00.000-07:00

3 Days ago, 1st of April, April Fool's Day....Keston started going to Infantcare. It's hardly considered a 'milestone', and yet something I would always remember.

About a week prior to that, HW was already trying to discuss what things we have to bring to the center and me, being in denial, refused to talk to him. Our conversations would go like this:

HW: Do you think we should bring his blanket?
Me: To where?
HW: To the infa...
Me: SHHHHHH!!!!
HW: You have to face up to it.
Me: Shut up!
....and I'll quick proceed to busy myself with something else.

And then the night before the fateful day, reality suddenly hit me on the head and I broke down. I couldn't believe the little boy had to go and spend the day with a bunch of strangers...and then I started worrying that he'll cry non-stop the whole day, wouldn't drink or eat, etc.

The first day, I spent some time sitting with him inside the infants play area....until the teacher shoo-ed me out to sit somewhere where he couldn't see me. Keston wailed so loudly, I could hear him distinctively from far across the room. I think he cried for 30mins before he gave way to exhaustion and fell asleep...but not for long, he woke up shortly and began crying again. Poor boy. He couldn't understand why he wasn't spending the day at his paternals...to be honest, neither can I. When I went to pick him up in the evening, I was told that he refused to drink milk all day!!! OMG, the only milk he had was when he woke up in the morning....he actually went on a hunger strike! And when I saw him, he was sitting by himself while the rest of the babies were kindda sitting together. Again, I was traumatised and imagined he was ostracised for being the new kid. I know it probably isn't true, but still...

The 2nd day was slightly better...at least he drank some milk. Far from his usual amounts, but at least he drank something! And he even took a short nap right about the time I came to get him. However, I noticed that he'd become even stickier than usual. He wanted me (only me) to carry him all the time. If I tried to put him down to sit/lie, he'd start wailing and big drops of tears would stream down his face. And I'm not even walking away from him, I'm just putting him down next to me!!! Poor kiddo thinks mummy's abandoning him...

Today, the 3rd day...he was much better. Although still not drinking his usual amount of milk...he did drink abit more. And he even managed to take naps! And when he came home, he even allowed me to put him down on his playmat while I wash his bottles. Thank God Keston's adjusting well.

Yesterday, we also brought Keston for his pneumococcal jab. He was being his normal cheeky self...until the needle went in. He cried so loudly! And then when the doc withdrew the needle, he stopped promptly and blinked back his tears. He even smiled at the doc...heh! Funny kid. Stats wise....

At 8mths 5days,
Length = 71cm
Weight = 8.45kg

I was checking the growth chart and it seems his length is in the 75th percentile while his weight is in the 50-75th percentile.

Graduation from Little Crawlers 1

2009-03-29T20:57:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Keston 'graduated' from term 1 of his Little Crawlers class. He was presented with his 'report card' and we were pleasantly surprised that our trainer prepared presents for everyone in the class!

I know report cards are just run off the mill thingamys and rarely depict the genuine situation...still, we were insanely proud to read Grace's comments for our little one. After reading it, HW went "How come never write 'Has room for improvement'"? lol! Afterall, probably everyone got that in their report books growing up!

Little Devil

2009-03-18T02:38:00.000-07:00

We bought this costume in Bangkok. So funny right?

Baby talk

2009-03-16T21:05:00.000-07:00

For the past 2 weeks, Keston has been becoming more and more vocal. He keeps going 'MmmmmMA MmmmmmMA' at first and recently it's become 'MmmmMAMA MMmMA MAMA' and so on. We haven't quite figured out what he's trying to say...and as much as I'd like to pretend he's calling me, he's not. He's not calling for Mummum (food) either cos it happens before food, after food...basically anytime of the day.

I'm still hoping Keston's calling me, although he gives me the 'What are you talking about?' look when I respond "You calling mummy har?". Oh well...

On another note, Keston's got his own email! I dunno why we didn't think of it earlier. We thought since his name is unique, should be able to get K E S T O N @ g m a i l . c o m but cannot ley, taken up already!!! :(

Keston's very own email is: K E S T O N C H A N @ g m a i l . c o m
We will give him the password when he's older. Heh!

Sitting up is such a chore

2009-03-13T19:54:00.001-07:00

Over the past week or 2, Keston has finally started sitting up by himself. He used to slump with his hands on either side of his legs and gradually end up with his face between his feet. But now he straightens his back for abit and is able to sit for a short while. Oh well, at least we're getting there.

Before Keston was born, I was convinced he's gonna be a clever kid. After all, I'm smart (and very thick-skinned) so he must get my smart genes too! But when he didn't start flipping at 3mths, didn't start crawling till 7mths, and didn't start sitting much earlier....I changed my tune to "He's just taking his time to perfect each act!"

Even so, I find myself saying things like "Why are other babies sitting so steadily and Keston can't?" To which, HW will always remind me that I said Keston does things in his own time. I guess I should really stop being so kiasu and accept that Keston will reach his milestones when he's ready.

4D3N in BKK

2009-03-06T20:09:00.000-08:00

We set off for the airport early Monday morning. Keston was still sleeping when I scooped him out of his cot and carefully carried him to the car. We were hoping he'd sleep all through the flight. Fat hope lah! He woke up before we even reached the car! He must be wondering where we were going at 6.30 in the morning.
Thankfully, the boy did not fuss at all and merely looked about curiously as we made the journey to the airport. I'm not sure how I'd deal with his crankiness when I myself had to wake up so early!
On the plane, he continued being an angel and waited quietly till his milk time which coincided with the takeoff time. Travelling with a baby sure has its perks! For one, our seats were already confirmed so we didn't have to check in early to get 'good' seats. Secondly, we were given front row seats which had amazing leg room! Thirdly, you get to bring liquids on board! Last but not least, the freebies! Got a model aeroplane, storybook (alot of grammatical errors but then what do you expect from Thai airways?), bib, 3 cans of Heinz puree....ok ok, I admit I'm a freebie junkie lah.

We requested for a bassinet. Just before the food trolley came, I laid Keston down in the bassinet and he, amazingly, fell asleep without fussing! So guai, let us eat in peace...
He woke up before the plane landed and still, no fuss! We were so delighted and were already planning a next trip in our heads.
On reaching BKK, Keston was the picture of innocence. He looked at everything curiously, as though he knew he'd made his maiden journey across the seas. We stayed at CentrePoint Petchburi this time. We'd stayed there on a previous trip and loved it! It's actually a service apartment so the rooms are huge and there's a kitchenette, dining table, washing sink, stove, microwave and all.
Keston loved the hotel bed and started crawling from end to end as soon as we laid him down...or maybe he just needed to stretch his limbs :P

BKK is a super baby-unfriendly place. Strollers were a rare sight as it's impossible to navigate the potholed roads or congested pavements. Our stroller was only used during breakfast in the hotel and at the airport. The rest of the time, I had to sling Keston. The sling is a novelty in BKK, the locals have never seen it before and I never saw anyone else using a sling! Some of the local women came up to me to tug, touch and inspect my sling.

The first 2 days passed by in a breeze. There was so much things for Keston to see that he didn't even realise he was missing his naps. Occasionally he'd fall asleep sitting up in the sling but it would last at most 30mins as there's always loud music blarring out from somewhere. Only on the 3rd day I learned to change from hip-carry position to lying down position and Keston got to nap abit better. It was still 30mins naps, unlike his 2-3hrs naps at home. By the 3rd day, the toll of slinging all day got to me and my back and feet ached like mad until I didn't feel like leaving the hotel....but no choice lah. We didn't go on a holiday to nua in the hotel room.

If charm sells, Keston would be a very rich baby. He stole the hearts of locals and foreigners everywhere he went! Some even asked to take photos of him...hmm should have charged them! This kid is a lady killer! Men have pick up lines, Keston just makes his move. What is Keston's move? He looks at any lady walking past and when he catches her eye, he will smile at her. When she smiles back, he will hide his face in my chest and peep at her grinning. Dunno how many womenfolk fell under his spell! Even when he's fussing, he will stop when he sees a girl walk past! This boy ah, really cassanova! And he's not choosy somemore...young, old, fat, skinny also he like! But when the menfolk play with him, he bo chup them. Didn't get to meet any trannies so can't test to see if he knows the difference.

This is partly the reason why we didn't get to go to alot of the places we usually cover. We trawled through the streets really slowly cos every few steps, someone would be touching him and playing with him. So we had to keep sterilising his hands :P Of course another reason would be feeding and pumping schedules. On a normal trip, we would cover Pratunam (Baiyoke, City Complex, Indra, Platinum, Krung Thong), Bobae, Chinatown, Patpong, MBK, Siam Centre, Siam Square. This time, we did only half of the Pratunam places, 1 floor in Platinum, no Chinatown, NO SIAM SQUARE!!! Where did the time go? Didn't get to eat the foods we craved too...our favourite sushi tei in MBK closed down, didn't get to eat sharks fin in chinatown, didn't make it to Siam Square to eat our favourite green snack, didn't have time for Banana Leaf in Patpong. Sigh~

Another thing I must mention, the baby chairs in most of the restaurants are idiotic!! They look more like bar stools for people with tiny butts. Alot of them actually have no seat belts, and most importantly, no blockage in front! And the backs are almost always hollow so when baby hunches, he will fall backwards out of the chair. The only place we found a decent baby chair was in Sizzler's. Unfortunately, Keston wanted to nap then and refused to sit in the chair.

Around the 3rd day, Keston finally felt the toll of lack of naps and started getting abit cranky...particularly when we were trying to have our meals. He'd also try to struggle out of the sling when I'm walking so it got a little frustrating. He also hadn't pooped ever since leaving Singapore so he was probably feeling abit constipated and not feeding well.

On the flight back to Singapore, we were seated next to a Thai-AfroAmerican couple with their toddler. The toddler wouldn't stop screaming!!! And Keston just kept quiet and stared at him. We'd asked for a bassinet so Keston could take his nap but with all that screaming, there was no way he could sleep. He stared at the toddler for half the journey, and then he too joined the crying game in the later half. He'd cry when I try to put him to sleep...so bo pian have to sit him on my lap and let him jump up and down. Let him jump, he happy again....plus there was a Chinese lady across the aisle for him to oogle and coo at. We were actually counting down to landing...HW would say 'Tahan..another 45mins'...and then 40mins...and so on.

When we reached back to Changi Airport, Keston again started smiling and playing with the customs officers who were doing body checks. Changed his diaper (Changi has a decent nursing room), put him in the stroller and within 5 steps, he was fast asleep!!! He slept all the way through immigration checkpoint, collecting luggages, taxi ride...and woke up just as we were reaching home. Poor boy must have been exhausted! Shortly after we reached home, he finally pooped! Hallelujah!

I must say this was quite a learning experience for us. We stretched ourselves to our limits and know how much we can actually do. Would there be a next time? Not sure. Would I consider holidaying without Keston? Maybe.

Bags are packed

2009-03-01T03:32:00.000-08:00

We had a good session at BJG today. Regular teacher's back so yipee for Keston. Only Jacinta and Keston turned up for today's class so they both got teacher Grace's undivided attention. Both babies were v guai and attentive much to our delight! Keston had a nice nap in the morning so he wasn't cranky and didn't need his pacifier in class today! Wah! Big achievement!

We originally intended to go Expo for the Babycare fest but then the sky got v dark and thunderous so we decided to give it a miss. Stayed home to pack instead (yep, I didn't finish packing yesterday :P)
Now Keston's stuff are all packed and he's taking up a full suitcase for himself!!! No space for my things...hmm...do babies get their own 20kg luggage weight?

Did I mention Keston turned 7mths yesterday? And he spent the whole day showing me his leopard crawls. Most of the time, he's still v nua but he will scramble for his ugly toy ball when he wants to.

2009-02-28T00:53:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, we finally decided to go ahead and book a trip to Bangkok I haven't been out of Singapore ever since I was pregnant, ok technically ever since I knew I was pregnant! The last trip was probably when I was about 4weeks into the pregnancy.

HW wanted a break and we were both itching for good tom yum. This will be Keston's maiden trip as well so it took us alot of courage to decide that we were ready to bring him out of the country.

Yesterday, an innocent comment from the pils drove us into a frenzy. See we booked with our usual agent so there was no need for us to submit our passports and we'd sort of forgotten that passports have an expiry date. So yesterday afternoon, fil casually asked if our passports have got a 6mths validity. We were stunned but figured should be lah! Later at night, HW checked his passport and realised his passport expires next month!!! His panic button was depressed and he went slightly insane. Who on earth has a holiday booked on Monday morning only to find his passport will not work on Friday night!? The ICA webby said that it'd take 3 working days for them to re-issue a new passport. He rushed to ICA early this morning and luckily they were able to do an extension of 9mths, printed on a document, all for a cost of $15. I'm already dreading the immigration at Thailand cos they will probably take an hour to peruse the document! While over at ICA, HW also took new photos to make his new passport. The photographer insisted that his glasses were reflective and made him wear ah pek glasses! HAHAHAHAHA!

Today I am supposed to get started (and probably finish) packing Keston's things. I have a long list of must-brings. So small yet so troublesome!

Fussy Eater

2009-02-27T21:42:00.000-08:00

Despite my best efforts, Keston hates pumpkin! (That reminds me, I still have that Avocado in the fridge) I gave him a tiny bit mixed into his cereal yesterday and he was alright with it. So this morning, I got a tad adventurous and mixed 50ml into his cereal-- there was more pumpkin than cereal. Keston sniffed at it when the spoon came near his mouth, wrinkled his nose and gave a look of utter disgust. I stuffed it in his mouth and he pooi straight out. Tried a few times with the same result and I surrendered. After I came back from washing the bowl and spoon, I caught Keston using his bib to rub off all the pumpkin bits from his tongue. So cute! Haha

I hope Keston doesn't grow to be a fussy eater like me. I hate vege, I don't take chilis, I don't like Chinese food. There you go.

Becoming hands-on

2009-02-25T19:08:00.000-08:00

Since Keston's now alright with his cereal and commercial puree, I'm starting to think about giving him healthier choices (ie. homemade concoctions). I mean he can't be eating cereal forever right? So I've been reading about how to make puree, how to cook porridge....On Sunday, I finally bought my first piece of pumpkin and avocado! It took me a while to find the avocado since I have absolutely no idea what it looks like!

And then the procrastinating took me till this morning to steam the pumpkin. I hope most of the nutrients are still there since it's been in the fridge for a couple of days now. I followed Cat's instructions, but I must have not steamed enough cos the inner part of the pumpkin was still vvv hard! Took me forever to scoop out whatever I could. Dump the flesh into the Pigeon foodmaker to grind. I got v restless during the mashing process and nearly gave up but HW would laugh at me, so I perservered. The too-hard parts I threw away cos I couldn't be bothered to steam again. So now I've got like 160ml of pumpkin puree sitting in the babycubes. Hooray for small miracles! But I suspect I wasn't v thorough with the mashing so there may still be chunky bits. Sorry my boy, I tried my best already :(

Porridge? Maybe after we're back from the trip!! I need a big rest from my little kitchen adventure!

Keston pontangs school!

2009-02-22T20:59:00.000-08:00

Remember this post? I seriously think Keston wakes up in the middle of the night, logs on the internet and reads this blog! And this is not the first time he's done this lor! See this!

The Sunday right after I posted, he napped for just 30mins and no power on earth could make him go back to sleep again. So he was awake since 11.15ish and by the time his classes started at 2pm, he was getting cranky! Sigh...and it happened the following week again!!! Every other day of the week, he takes a 3 hr nap in the morning...all except for Sundays!

Yesterday we had a surprise when we saw a new teacher at BJG. Our usual teacher had gone on holiday (without informing us!). Before the class started, Jacinta, SL and Keston laid on the floor while the relief teacher came to introduce herself. Keston was still relatively happy. But once the class started, Keston seemed to realise: Correct place, wrong person! And immediately wailed out loud! SO MALU!! I quickly left the room and brought him to the gym. He quietened down immediately. HW came from parking the car and asked me what's wrong. I kept telling Keston don't be afraid and all and made HW bring him back to the class. The moment he entered the class, Keston took one look at the relief teacher and wailed out loud again! We scampered out and he calmed down....this time I took a long time to muster up enough courage to try again. This time, even the teacher was wary. She gave a sheepish look and didn't make a sound, but the moment she spoke, Keston wailed! Aiyoh!!! This boy ah...

Finally we made the decision to skip class this week and do a make up next time. Just as we stepped out the door, Keston smiled. My naughty boy is learning to play truant and he's not even 7mths old yet!!!

Time to bring out the red pen

2009-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Whisper is back in business. Sigh~

Weaning Keston

2009-02-21T00:33:00.000-08:00

Keston's weaning process was not as smooth as I'd expected. He hated the Healthy Times cereal at first and refused to open his mouth after tasting it. We had to add it into his milk just to ensure he's getting some iron.

And then we weren't sure if he was rejecting the cereal or the spoon itself and took forever to buy a small bottle of Heinz puree to try.(It tastes disgusting by the way). Turns out he's fine with the spoon, he just doesn't like the taste of HT brown rice cereal.

Let me try some of that cereal

Ee-yer!

More Puree! More Puree!yummy!

Valentine's Day with Keston

2009-02-15T19:51:00.001-08:00

I know, I know..long time never post pictures already. Too lazy to upload photos into my laptop..

My Valentine's Day this year was spent alone with baby Keston. Whenever I'm home alone, I start thinking of bringing him out alone (which I've never done, at least not without HW chaperoning me to and from the venue and also I'm never alone!). But I usually procrastinate until it's night time :P
On Saturday, I was seriously planning to take him to Bukit Panjang Plaza, cos that's the nearest shopping mall around and I wasn't confident in bringing him out any further alone. Besides, by the time I get him ready and myself ready, it would probably be time for his next feed.

The little boy slept from 2pm till 4.45pm. Good long nap. That's a nice start. I gave him his milk and started with my 'should I, should I not?' nonsense. Then Keston pooped! It's like he gave me the shove cos we've gotten the feed and poo out of the way. Bo pian, no more reason to hesitate so I bundled him up in my sling, threw a diaper (just in case), wet wipes, wallet and keys into a recyclable bag and off we went.

BPP is the nearest mall, but it's not near. It's like 4 bus stops away!! It's linked via a walkway from our estate so it's an easy walk. I set off with the mentality that I'm just bringing keston out for a walk. If we make it to BPP, so be it. If not, we went for a nice walk! Why didn't I take the bus? Cos' I'm afraid I'll get up the wrong bus, or stop at the wrong station.

So anyway, we reached BPP in like 20mins? I went to the library to borrow some books so I now had to carry a baby plus 3 books. Then went to Macs to dabao dinner for HW and myself. Walked around abit, then armed with a nearly 8kg baby, 3 books and 2 Macs Bag, I started on my journey back. This time, we took 25mins and halfway through I was dying! I'd just thrown on a pair of lousy flipflops and my toes were blistering under the weight. And Keston? He was happily asleep, so I couldn't just stop and sit by the canal. It would look damn weird anyway! I persisted and finally reached home. Threw everything down and jumped into the shower.

Despite being exhausted, I had a truly nice time. Keston was v cooperative and did not make a single sound throughout the 2hrs adventure, he just concentrated on looking cute! And I now know I can bring him out alone....the next time, i will try the bus!!!

Rashes

2009-02-13T23:30:00.000-08:00

Since Keston's turned 6mths old, we've introduced Healthy Times brown rice cereal. Also, we've changed his FM which we use for supplementary feeds to stage 2. Keston is now willing to take the cereal, but only minute amounts. I'm not sure if its cos he doesn't like the taste or he just isn't hungry.....and I haven't had time to buy something else for him to try. Cereal is supposed to be v heaty so it's recommended that babies drink more water. BUT (yes, that's a big but) Keston absolutely refuses to drink water. Give him water in a bottle, he'd greedily take a couple of sucks and when his tongue registers it's tasteless water, he refuses to swallow and all the water will flow out. After which he gives us a disgusted face and simply refuses to open his mouth! We've only managed to feed him a couple of ml of water only by spoonfeeding (more like wetting his lips) or by syringing.

The new FM he's now taking is Similac Follow-on. Prior to that, he was on Enfalac but since we had a sample can of Similac, just take lor. However, shortly after the introduction of Similac, we found many pimply spots on his forehead...so ugly! So I thought must be heaty lah....and applied Lucas PawPaw Ointment on the spots. It didn't help and he even got abit of spots on his chest. So I itchy fingers, decided to moisturise him by applying Hazeline Snow. The very next day when I was wiping him down before bedtime, I was horrified to find the area from his chest to his stomache full of angry red spots! Wah liao! There were like 5 spots the day before, and it multiplied to like 100!! So heart pain even though he didn't seem to feel anything.

The doc says it looks like an allergy, possibly to the milk powder or cereal. He says it doesn't look like it's cream related. He also said it could be due to the weather or heatiness. Ermmm basically abit inconclusive lah.

Anyway, we're just applying Calamine lotion to cool him down now. And we've stopped Similac for the moment. We're trying out Isomil 2, which is soy-based and supposed to help with allergies. Ironically, Keston seems allergic to Isomil! Right after drinking Isomil, he'll excrete a very smelly watery poo! Haiyoh! So mafan!

Anyways, at 6mths 2wks, Keston weighs 7.85kg. Still very lightweight although he looks big!

Keston's Sunday

2009-02-08T20:01:00.000-08:00

Keston seems to know he has classes on Sundays and he takes the longest nap ever, ONLY on Sunday mornings. Every other day, he takes a nap around 10.30am and usually self-awakes around 12noon. But every sunday, he sleeps at 10.30am and sleeps and sleeps until we sort of wake him up for a feed at slightly past 1pm. He knows he needs lots of energy for his BJG class.

Yesterday was our 3rd session at BJG and the first time I noticed signs saying 'No Photography'. Geez! Whoever saw us taking photos on the 1st session must have thought we were illiterate idiots! Honestly, I can read just fine. I just didn't notice the sign!!!

Anyway, Keston woke up a little earlier, 12.50pm I think. Before the class started, while waiting at the lobby..he was a bundle of energy, jumping up and down my lap. There was another little boy with his family at another sofa who kept coming over to attract Keston's attention. Then the boy went back to his mummy and ask 'Mummy, is the baby cute?' hahaha...then he says 'Mummy, he looks like Timothy!' and proceeds to wave at Keston saying 'Hi Timothy!' Quite hilarious and the mum was a little embarrassed. All the energy seemed to have been sapped up in that little encounter and come lesson time, Keston was tired and cranky. Bah! Cry cry when teacher was trying to get him to crawl and he gave a massive push to thrust himself forward. It's all the pent up frustration I tell you!

After lesson, as usual..he fell asleep in the car when I tried to give him water. I suspect he just doesn't want to drink the water and pretends to sleep instead...during which he really falls asleep! Such a silly boy.

Keston's finally started taking his cereals. He doesn't really like it but at least he's not pushing it out of his mouth. He's still taking only 1 tablespoon of Healthy Times cereal. And because he's not drinking much/any water, he's getting pimply spots on his forehead! So ugly, how??

Keston flips back

2009-02-04T19:45:00.001-08:00

Keston did his first flip from tummy to back this morning...and no one witnessed it! All I know is, on my way to the kitchen, he was sprawled on his tummy...and when I came back to the living room, he was on his back! He refuses to do it again though...

BJG

2009-02-01T08:47:00.000-08:00

After 2 weeks break, Keston attended his 2nd class at BabyJumperGym today. We had babies Jacinta and Talon, who were present at the last class...and 3 newcomers. Keston was in a much calmer mood today and was not the crankiest this time! *cue silent hoorays* The last time, Keston refused to lie on the mattress but this week, he happily laid down and let us do whatever we wanted. When another baby refused to lie on the mattress, the teacher even commented to the mum 'Pick him up cos sometimes they don't like to lie on the mattress..unless they're calm like Keston!' Hehe, make me feel so proud cos the last lesson he was super cranky on the mattress. Guess it's just a matter of getting used to :) When he was hanging on the monkeybar, he did not whine within the count of 1-10 and so we let him hang for twice or thrice the normal time. The last session, he was whining by the count of 3 :P

We had to buy a BJG polo-tee for his uniform...but I think he's not required to wear it...so I also dunno why must buy!?

We also got to take home some words flashcards homework, which I'm honestly not sure if I'll be able to slot in between my dots flashcards. Anyways, today was fun, let's have a good session next week as well!

Chu San...and baby turns half a year old!

2009-01-28T06:51:00.000-08:00

I don't think Keston likes visiting people's houses v much.

Today is Daddy and Mummy's time alone with Keston and we had a great time! For the first time ever, Keston slept on his front when he flipped in the middle of the night! How cute. But the 2nd time it happened, he yelped and HW got up to bring him over to our bed. I was awaken when Keston kept kicking me.

Tried feeding cereal and failed again. I'm not gonna persist, will try again in a week's time. After breakfast, I put Keston into his jumperoo and today's the happiest I've ever seen him in it. His little feet can almost fully reach the floor already and he kept stomping about and turning round and round. He played for quite a long while until we took him out to give him a bath. Did a short round of flashcards then Keston quickly took a nap.

He napped for 1.5hrs then we brought him out to Bt Panjang Plaza to lunch. Wanted to try the new Tang Dian Wang but the queue was horrenduos so we ended up in Macs. Gave Keston his milk, burped him then put him back into the stroller. He actually guai guai sit there watching us eat. After lunch, since Keston was so guai, we continued shopping around BBP. Reached home and quickly changed into swimming gear cos it was so sunny. The water was freezing though...Keston kept whining and whining when we put him in but it wasn't as bad as 2 days ago. He didn't take so long to accustom himself to the water this time. We took turns swimming as one of us had to stay behind to play with the baby boy.

After swimming, Keston took a quick bath and he took another nap. He napped for 2.5hrs this time round and when he woke up, we left for the Jacob Ballas Garden which was kind of nearby. It looks like alot of fun for children but of course Keston's still too young to appreciate it. Also it started drizzling after about 15mins so it was a very short visit. I wanna bring him again!!!

We then left for Giant at TurfCity cos we needed to get some groceries. Again, Keston was v cooperative, sitting in his stroller and letting us take our time shopping and browsing. At one point, HW ran the stroller up a ramp and Keston yelled in delight. This part is hilarious cos HW kept saying Keston enjoyed himself, but then I smelt poo and sure enough there was a spot of poo in his diapers! Keston was actually scared till he shit in his diapers! Chua Sai! So funny lah!

For dinner, we decided to go to ABC market for our favourite Chicken Rice. But alas, not open! Keston fell asleep in the car on the way there..and I even manage to put him into the stroller without waking him. But on reaching the market, there was a lion dance troupe there! Alamak, baby woke up and cos he only slept for 10mins, he was abit irritated. Had a quick dinner then headed for Ikea to look-see. Wanted to see the high chair and also any toys for his stroller. The stuff toys were either too big, or too ugly. But Keston liked every one...anything we waved in front of him, he would open his arms welcomingly...only to try to bite the toy. When I tried to push him away from the stuff toys, he cried! Sigh~ But I really couldn't bring myself to buy the ugly animal toy. So I had to keep reassuring the boy that mummy will find a more suitable stuff toy for him. We still had quite a nice time walking around although the boy insisted on being carried from then on.

Reach home and he concussed shortly! This boy's really a sleepyhead! We'd brought a small (slice) cake for his half a yr birthday but he fell asleep before we could take it out. Tomorrow then!

A not so happy CNY for Keston...

2009-01-27T06:07:00.000-08:00

First up, here's wishing all a Happy and Prosperous CNY!

It's been abit of a nightmare for Keston.

It started on Chu Yi morning, we woke up to find Keston's face full of mozzie bites! Yes...we slacked on sticking the mozzie patches and he got a massive attack again! First day of New Year can? How to see people? So ugly!

Then I decided to start on semi-solids since he'll be turning 6 mths in 2 days time. Disaster! Keston stuck his tongue out to prevent the spoon from going in. Which is really really strange, cos he's usually extremely interested when he sees us eating. When I'm eating something and I bring it near his mouth, his usual reaction would be to open his mouth and gravitate towards the food. But he refused to let the cereal go anywhere near his mouth.

Went to the in-laws for lunch and the boy got very restless and refused to stay still. Tried to give him milk but he rejected and just kept whining/crying. We couldn't eat in peace...finally he took his milk and was satisfied for awhile but needed me to carry him all the time.

He took a long nap(2+hrs) in the afternoon and we decided to bring him swimming. We haven't brought him swimming in abt 2mths and we were worried that he's gonna be afraid of water. The water was a little cold, but much warmer than the last few times. Keston whined and cried so loudly everytime we tried to put him in. I think it took a good half an hour before we managed to get him emerged into the water. Once in the water, Keston was just okay...not really happy like last time but looked like he was just tolerating it. After that he took a nap again, 1 hour I think.

Come night time, we went to my parents for dinner. And again, Keston started acting up and whining/crying non-stop. Again, could not eat in peace. When we reached home, it took a fairly short time for him to fall asleep.

I guess he could be tired but there weren't that much activities going on and he did nap well throughout the day!!

Chu Er, he woke up in a good mood. But then again, Keston always wakes up in a good mood. Took his milk and played. Tried to feed him cereal and failed again. So depressing. Went to in-laws for lunch. He seemed to be better today, just sitting in my lap and looking around quietly. Lunch wasn't ready yet so we had to wait abit...by the time lunch was ready, it was Keston's feeding time as well. So I had to feed him while everyone's eating. He seemed quite satisfied after feeding so I laid him down on the mattress and went back to eat. Took a couple of mouthfuls before Keston started acting up again!!! So had to take turns with HW to carry him and eat. Mil took over for awhile, then Bil's wife also helped carry him while we finish our lunch. Keston got increasingly agitated and I guessed he wanted to sleep but it was too noisy. HW's auntie's family was there plus he had an active toddler nephew running around. Minutes after they left, Keston fell asleep in my arms.

We quickly went home to let Keston have a good nap. He woke up for abit when I put him down on the bed but went back to sleep for 2+hrs. Then we decided to go HMV to look see. I tell you, this is the best bit! Keston was soooo guai throughout the time in HMV. He had his eyes wide open, looking at everything and not making a single sound! But he was so guai that we got v uneasy and suspicious so kept checking his diapers but there wasn't anything. Then eventually he fell asleep in the stroller, no pacifier, no nothing!

Next we went my parents home for dinner. Keston woke up in the car, but was in quite a pleasant mood. Reached home and he was still okay....then slowly slowly the whining and crying started. AGAIN! Cannot have dinner in peace...he was supposed to have his last feed at 8.30 but he was making so much noise that I fed him at 8. His usual feed is 200ml but he was still cranky after 200ml so I gave him an additional 40ml and he was STILL cranky. But I don't think it's hunger cos that's alot more I'm adding. He refused to sit still to burp and we had abit of a struggle. Finally managed to burp him and then he goes and reguritate a big portion of the additional 40ml! One second he's all happy and sweet looking, the next sec he's going red in the face trying to squeeze his tears out....blink and he's back to being calm and innocent.

Quickly went home, wiped down and he fell asleep almost immediately!!!

We think he could be teething again, but not v sure. The funny thing is the teeth I felt on his gums last time seem to have disappeared! I don't see the white bits anymore!! HW says he feels something on his upper gums but the angle's abit strange for me to see anything. So sian, can't enjoy this holiday with Keston properly. 2 more days of hols and I hope he's better tomorrow.

Confession time

2009-01-20T08:37:00.001-08:00

I have a confession to make.

Keston nearly fell off the sofa today. I sat him up at the corner, between the back and side of the sofa. Turned around to grab my flashcards. Turned back and saw him lying on his front with his face inches from the edge of the sofa. Was quite shocked as I only turned away for 2 seconds! Quickly sat him back in the same position and when I let go, he immediately did a repeat performance. What happened was, I usually sit him leaning backwards. He tried to lean forward , lost balance (cos he can't sit unassisted yet) and fell forward flat on his face.

I can't imagine if he'd just fell abit more front or side or whatever....

Kiasu Singaporean Parents

2009-01-18T08:36:00.000-08:00

Even before Keston was born, I knew I wasn't gonna be one of those laid-back-let-the-kids-enjoy-their-childhood kind of parent. I wouldn't be so extreme as to send my kid to tuition before even hitting primary school, but I wouldn't be happy having him face 4 walls and babbling to himself all day either.

So last week we attended a class at Baby Jumper Gym. Prior to this, I'd already brought Keston to a Kindermusik class (as blogged much earlier). Kindermusik didn't appeal to me as they were basically doing things which I did with Keston on a daily basis-- singing, dancing and moving with him. So I didn't really see why I'd want to pay to repeat the same things in another location....also because Keston didn't seem to enjoy himself lah!

Anyways, BJG comprises of a mix of flashcards and gym activities. I must say I liked the programme very much. Although he was abit whiney during the gym session, Keston looked genuinely interested at the flashcards. I liked that they kindda followed the Glenn Doman flashcards programme and the teacher's speed at flashing the cards was impressive. Out of the 4 babies present that day, Keston was the weakest. Sigh~ He's the only one who can't sit by himself, nor can he pull himself up with the hula hoop. He whined when we tried to make him lie down. Anyway, I'm hoping he will warm up to the class as we've decided to enroll for the term.

I suspect that Keston is afraid of babies...or maybe he's threatened. He doesn't have any problems with adults, he loves to smile and play with complete strangers whenever we're out (especially ladies). But put him in a group of babies and he gets cranky. Strange behaviour.

I digress. I've been reading "How to teach your baby Math" and have finally started my home flashcards sessions 2 days ago. We're learning to recognise quantity now. I'll be damned if any kid of mine does not do brilliantly in Maths! I mean come on, Maths is like the simplest thing on earth!!! HW already knows that I will blame his genes if Keston doesn't do well in Maths in future so he lets me do whatever I want now :)

It's been a long time...

2009-01-17T18:53:00.000-08:00

I've been too lazy to blog, too lazy to update Keston's photos. So here's a photo recap of what we've been up to.

First, there was Keston's first Christmas in 2008.

Precious Moments Display at Suntec

'Tourist Attraction' at TakaChristmas Eve at Da Yee's
Keston's Christmas Pressies (actually it's just a bunch of toys he's unable to play with as yet)The real deal- his very own Jumperoo!His feet can't really reach the ground yet so he basically sits there pulling the toys.See? Must put telephone directory!At the condo Christmas PartyPlaying with Grandma and Ah YeeExhausted!!Christmas setting at vivocitywith Daddy

And then we met up with the MG galsA place where memories were formed :)Trying out the Dinky Diner

Had a trial class at Baby Jumper GymLooking around curiously during Baby Jumper Gym ClassAt Baby Jumper GymThe silly boy refused to lie down to play with the hula hoop and kept whining to be carried. Looks so ke lian here.

Brought him to the playground for the first timeTrying to playPlaying on the see-sawSome purple dinosaur rocking thingyKeston holds his own bottle..He's actually treating it as a teether. Sigh!When the rat meets the oxMr Ox, be good to me in 2009 ok?Happy 牛 Year!This is the way I brush my (sic)tooth

First time bringing Keston out on Public transport, just cos we felt adventurous! It went very well and I have to conclude the S'pore mrt system is really quite easy to navigate. Keston was exceptionally guai throughout the whole day too!First time on the mrt and looking completely overwhelmed!Just to prove the last photo was really taken in the mrt :PKeston finally has a passport!At the foodcourt in Raffles City, totally annoyed with the neverending photo-taking...

Keston the little devil

2009-01-06T08:41:00.000-08:00

What's that above my head?

Horns? *gasp* But I'm an Angel...mummy said so!
Whatever it is...I didn't do it!I'm glad you believe me :)

3rd Jab

2009-01-02T20:08:00.000-08:00

Keston went for his 3rd 6-in-1 vaccination jab yesterday, at 5mths and 5 days. He weighs only 7.3kg. I'm slightly concerned that his increase of weight is dropping significantly. According to the doc, in the 1st year, infants are supposed to have an increase of 1kg per month. But Keston weighed 6.2kg at 3mths so he only gained approx 1 kg in 2 months!! He's at a good size though so I'm not thaaat worried, just abit miffed.

The real reason why we went to the docs yesterday is cos Keston has been having the runs for a week already. He usually poos once in 3-5 days but for the past week, it's been once or twice per day with very watery output. Apparently it's due to him teething and putting all sorts of bacteria into his mouth. We also finally found out the white dots on his forehead are a fungi infection, and not baby pigmentation according to the polyclinic! Damn blasted no good doctors at the polyclinic, anyhow diagnose!

Happy 2009

2009-01-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year 2009!

No resolutions as always cos I can't be bothered. 2008 was an awesome year due to the arrival of Keston. What can 2009 bring to top that? All I ask is that Keston grows healthily and stays happy and cute everyday :)

Teething terror

2008-12-29T09:16:00.001-08:00

Keston turned 5 months on Sunday. Has it been 5 months already? I still vividly remember my hospital stay and confinement period...ok 5 months in adult life seems short, but 5 months in a baby's life is like an eternity!!!

Keston's started teething like I mentioned earlier but the last couple of days have been abit of a nightmare. He's got diarrohea and he's been exceptionally cranky and fussy. The teething gel helps a teensy little bit and yet I'm reluctant to have him 'eating' the gel. He's quite restless in his sleep at night and so he's sleeping with me for now. How now brown cow? When will this saga end?

Keston's 1st Christmas

2008-12-25T07:55:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas my little darling! You're the best gift I could ever ask for.

My little cutie pie

2008-12-24T07:38:00.000-08:00

We received one of the nicest compliment today when someone commented that Keston's so cute that she feels like getting married and having a child :) It made my day!

The flipping monster

2008-12-19T19:44:00.001-08:00

Ever since Keston's learnt to flip, he's become such a handful.
First we must learn 2 important things about Keston:

1. He only knows how to flip from his back to his front and not the other way around.
2. He hates being on his front and refuses to lie down. He'd rather stay in push up position than to let his face touch the ground.

Keston the flipper flips every single moment of the day. His regular ongoing activity is
-Flip over to his tummy
-looks around and stays in push up position
-starts drooling abit
-struggles to stay in push up position
-arms become weak
-whine
-cry
-mummy or daddy quickly roll him back on his back
-IMMEDIATELY Flips over to his tummy again

and the whole cycle starts again. So you get the idea what we do all day!

For the past 3 mornings, we've been awakened by his yelp cos' the moment he woke up, he flipped and after staying up for abit, calls for help to be rolled over. Gone are the days of blissful sleep-ins while he self-entertains! Keston's great at self-entertaining. Most mornings he's up before we are but he'd quietly play by himself in his cot till it's time for milk. But now when I hear the yelp, I will nudge HW to go over to Keston's room. HW will then bring Kes over to our room and proceed to fall asleep. I will then be tasked to put Kes back to sleep.

See lah, I wanted him to flip..and now that he's flipping, it's giving me a headache :P

PHOTO updates!

2008-12-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

That's all folks!

Keston and his gym(s)

2008-12-13T21:47:00.000-08:00

The first gym we got for Keston was the Fisher-Price Ocean Wonders Kick & Crawl Aquarium Gym. He liked it quite abit but I felt it wasn't helping him with any developments so I itchy fingers sold it away to buy new gyms to try.

So we bought 2 new gyms last week.

Fisher-Price Baby Play Zone Kick&Whirl Carnival and

Fisher-Price® Baby Gymtastics™ 3-in-1 Rockin' Gym™

To start of with, I fixed up the Carnival gym for Keston. The moment we put him in, he looked terrified. We thought turning on the music woul help but it made him cry instead! The best thing was, he was so scared he actually shit in his diapers!!! Hahaha...just a splatter but still....We persisted and tried for a few more times at different timings of the day. The best he could do was ignore the gym and look everywhere else! But it was pretty evident that he's never gonna like it. Frankly, the gym doesn't work very well. Firstly, the baby is meant to kick some board to activate the music but the board's at a 90 degrees angle to the floor and pretty awkward for the baby to kick. Secondly, you need to hit pretty damn hard before anything happens to the music...and it was such a biatch to fix up! I'm critical cos my boy doesn't like it. Heh! So anyway, we brought it back.

Next I fixed up the Rockin' Gym. This cute little gym can be converted into a rocking horse for future use. This gym is so much easier to assemble. And the music is soft and bubbly so Keston was at ease. When baby tugs or bats at one of the hanging toys, it activates a 'triiiing' sound into the music being played. Keston loved that (while I worry about how many batteries I need to standby)...and he'd bat at the toy, hear the sound...wait awhile and bat again. It really does help develop his fine motor skills me thinks.