An Encounter of a Different Kind

1 september

An unlikely experience. Being trapped in a lift at the start of a working day morning with 2 young boys for nearly an hour was something I had never given any thought to ... that's what parenthood is about most of the time ... it's about coping with the unanticipated notwithstanding that you had spent all your available time learning, planning and visualising every possible (or so you think) event.

The best part of it all - we had a great time! Unbelievable. We were, of course, blessed that it was a technical lift failure and all the lights and ventilation continued to function. Can't imagine otherwise. For the first half hour, the kids entertained themselves by singing and chattering, interspersed with the anxious voice of Samy, our security guard, over the intercom, assuring us that help was on the way.

And just as they were about to get restless, I remembered that I had a camera with me and so the fun began all over. When the lift doors finally opened, the worried faces of a technician, Samy and the cleaner were greeted by very happy faces who looked like they were at a playground :-)

Another unexpected plus - the experience gave me an excellent opportunity to explain to Peanut why he should not take the lift on his own and to teach Wati not to panic and what she should do in such a situation.

This one is for the (old) Girls

31 august

Finally, the gang of 4 had our first complete gathering after a decade! We spent one and a half days shopping and gorging ourselves to make up for the lost time in between - so you can imagine all the spoils at the end of the day. It was exhilarating and invigorating- reliving our days of old, shopping like when we were still youthful girls, eating way beyond what our metabolic rate could afford. Eve, we (I believe I can speak for the rest - it's a licence that comes with years of friendship) really miss you a ton, must do this again soon ... hopefully, in less than 10 years. Maybe we should have a gathering in London the next time.

This Tiger can't peel his eyes off from the TV

This is Peanut in the same suit at 2.5 y.o : Tiger

We celebrate SP's 2nd Birthday

5 July 2009

Still distinctly remembered the full month celebration for SP ... sure miss having a baby in the house. Here's a recollection of some of the horror stories in the past 2 years:

Horror Story 1 - Date: @ about 6 m.o Time: 8pm Venue: Home

SP fell from the bed head first with his face hitting the floor. Blood started to stream from his nose, dripped onto the floor and as I carried him, onto my left sleeve. During those few heart-stopping minutes, I had to ignore the pale fear-stricken face on Wati, held onto SP's nose to stop the bleeding, pretended to be calm so as not to scare Peanut, comfort a wailing SP, issued orders to gather some stuff and called my husband to come home so I could send SP to a doctor.

Horror Story 2 - Date: 5 Oct 2008 Time: 11pm Venue: Home

SP threw out his milk (his vomit propelled in a fountain aka merlion) and his fever hit 39 degree celcius. I had to rush him to the A&E at KK Children Hospital. We spent an hour there, amidst other more sickly children/wailing babies who were also running high fever and vomitting. Appeared that a virus had been passing around. SP, in contrast, didn't appear as sickly; his fever even subsided whilst we were there.

Horror Story 3 - Date: 5-7 Mar 2009 Venue: Home

SP had severe diarrhea but did not run any fever - had loose bowels 7 times in a day, couldn't even retain any fluids. For the first time, I had to use a suppository on him. It was a first for me - the other first and only time was when Mr M, my husband, used it on Peanut and he swore that he would never want to touch another suppository - he was overwhelmed by guilt as if he had betrayed his son's trust in him and that he was inflicting some kind of torture notwithstanding protesting cries and pleading. Very complex. Anyway, that was not the horror part of the story. The true horror was after having had loose bowels for 7 times in a day, going without food and milk, SP was still chasing his brother in a game of catching and was jumping about like usual ...

And here's an update on SP's growing vocab of Singlish, English, Mandarin and Cantonese:

1. Aiya (Oh dear)

2. See lah (I told you so)

3. Nah (Here it is) e.g. Nah, your turn (handing over the telephone after a short conversation with popo)

4. No touch... no touch me please, ok?

Editorial comment: I was caressing him when he said that. Figured that I might as well start learning to cope with such rejection ... boys can be so hurting .. boo hoo hoo.

5. 你看 / Yok (i.e 'look')

6. Goodnight, 晚安, 早tou (in Cantonese), 早晨 (in Cantonese)

7. wan ton meen (Cantonese for wanton noodle)

8. I hungry; eat lice (read 'rice'), eat noodle, eat chicken (all in one breadth which can be summarised in a single word- famished)

9. I tired, on light (read 'off light')

My Rock Star

SP's fascination with eyewear continues ...