Zac's Update: 13+ months

At 13+ months, I:

• am still not walking yet but love to stand
  
• can say a couple more words such as: bird, ceh ceh
• love nursery rhymes. Will clap my hands everytime mummy finished singing my favourite 'twinkle twinkle little star' and 'Old MacDonald had a farm'.
  
• love to copy everything I see around me, when mummy roars like a lion, I would roar too, when mummy pretends to be a monkey (with both hands on the chest scratching) I would follow too (I even copied the hands), when popo uses the spoon to balance a plastic cup, I would do the same. I just love to copy everything I see :-)
• I have quite a character, mummy said I have a bad temper and am a pretty rough boy
  
• still have my usual swelling

Playing staring game with with one of the ceh ceh. Look at the size of my head and forehead! Mummy said I look like a flowerhorn fish - no wonder the doctor had to use a forcep to get me out of her tummy even when it was a c-sec...

Singapore Zoo (Part 4)

This a a 'must go' place everytime we're in Singapore. The zoo :-). So this time no exception. Singapore zoo is a great place, very child friendly and clean. We can easily spend more than half a day here looking at animals, playing at the water park area and just chilling out.

S$5 per bowl of carrots (about 5 carrots)

Singapore Flyer (Part 3)

Papa took Hayley to Singapore Flyer on a Friday when I was at work. Again the entrance fee is not cheap, adult is S$29.50 and kid (3 and above) is S$20.65. The entire circle took about 30 mins (according to papa). After the flyer they walked to Marina Bay.

Universal Studios (Part 2)

During our Singapore trip, one of the day was spent at USS. The USS trip was a year end event organised by my company for the staff and therefore my ticket is paid for, Hayley is under 4 so it's free and we paid for papa's. The ticket is not cheap though, S$72 per adult and because we bought more than 30 tickets at a go, they gave us corporate discounts. Guess how much? S$4 wor....sigh....

Anyway, just wanted to say the place is great, kids and adults will love it. Lots of rides, lots of places to spend money and lots of entertainment along the street. We went on a Saturday so it was a bit crowded and queues for rides were slightly long (2 hours for Transformers). Other than the Transformers and The Mummy ride, the rest of the rides are suitable for kids (some requires adult supervision).

I'll let the photos do all the talking :-)

Steven Spielberg introducing his movies and special effects (Jurassic park, ET)

We're waiting for the hurricane. When it finally hit, it was quite real and interesting with wind, water, fire and even a ship crashing into us effect.

The ultimate ride in 3D, this ride is SUPER cool

Hayley's ride

Waterworld show, another great entertainment

Watching Shrek in 4D, we got spat at by the donkey and even have spiders

climbing up our legs.. so darn real

Waiting for her roller coaster, although it was considered a mild one to most people, I was still scared when it was over but she said 'mom, this was fun!'....

Shrek and Fiona dating

Singapore trip (Part 1)

This year my company decided to organise a family day out at USS and a year end party at a restaurant in Sentosa Boardwalk. So off we go again to Singapore in December 2011. Our first time (the 3 of us) to Singapore was back in Dec 2009. This time Zac was left at the babysitter's for a couple of days cause we didn't want to stress him out as we know we'll be out the whole day :(. Reni was left at my aunty's.

As the airfare for the 3 of us in Dec was quite expensive, we decided to drive. The journey took us about 4 hours and with the help of a GPS, we managed to find our way in Singapore pretty easily.

At Vivo City

Kids dressed as elves at our company's year end dinner party (Hayley and Minyu)

Some rich man's car

On the way back, we stopped by at JPO. Some of the stuff at JPO were much cheaper than in Singapore. So many people were seen queuing at the Coach outlet (insane). There are still plenty of shops not opened and even that the place is already pretty crowded.

More photos on the places we visited in Singapore in the next few posts, USS, Singapore Zoo and Singapore Flyer. So enjoy :)

Another hair pulling moment

Since last week I have been tortured emotionally and mentally by my 3 year old girl. SHE REFUSED TO EAT!

It has been almost a week now and she still refused to eat. This is what I am going through everyday:

Morning (8am) - made her a bottle of milk, usually 7oz and she will finish half only

Breakfast (10 ish) - refused to eat anything

Lunch (1pm) - when we're preparing rice she will say she already had her food and she's not hungry. We'll force her to eat the food and she will sulk and pretend to vomit and will insist that we give her small spoons only otherwise she will throw up (small as in 1/3 of a teaspoon!). We'll struggle to make her finish about half a bowl of rice. Sometimes we just give up after a few spoons cause she will start crying, and we'll start losing our temper etc.

Tea (3pm) - another bottle of milk, sometimes she won't finish

Dinner (6pm) - similar struggle as per lunch

Last milk feed (9pm) - she usually will fnish this one but sometimes insist that we make her just half a bottle.

I am really upset. Why did she suddenly become like this? She used to love her milk and will eat whatever we eat. What makes her change so suddenly? It will be easier if we give her junk food as in ice cream, chocolate, McDonalds etc. She will take them with no problems.

I've de-wormed her 2 weeks ago, will the de-worm cause loss of appetite? It doesn't look like it cause she will finish the entire ice cream so her appetite is definitely there, just that she's selective of what she wants to eat. I brought her to the doctor cause I was really worried and he said de-worming will not usually cause loss of appetite but he said it could still be a possibility.

The doctor also asked if there was anything else that we've changed in her life in the last few weeks prior to this new 'phase'. The only other thing we did was that we've stopped sending her to the babysitter since Reni arrived. Could this have caused her to be emotionally upset and hence this horrible phase to get our attention?

I have tried talking to her, asking her what was wrong but all she said was 'I don't want big mouth' ie referring to small amount when we feed her. She did not tell me anything else.

I am going to lose my mind very soon. Should I just let her starve until she ask me for food????

What should I do?????? I am just worried that she will fall ill if this goes on.

Zac's update: 12+ months

At 12+ months, I:

• occasionally can stand unsupported, if I am forced to walk or stand, I will do it on tip-toe,
  
• can finally crawl on 4, can crawl pretty fast too
  
• have 6 teeth, 4 lower, 2 upper
• can say a couple of words: papa, mum mum, tar tar
  
• am very expressive, will show different facial expressions for different situations - when mummy scold me I will pretend to cry (tearless), when ceh ceh snatch my toys I will wail and yell, when I want to be carried I will make a lot of noise until someone come to my rescue (mummy said I am very predictable)
  
• still have the swelling on my left cheek, same old same old

Had my 1 year old jab on 2nd Nov. Met with Dr Choy who has been my paeditrician since I was born. This is the first time Dr Choy has seen my swelling (mummy did not consult him in the past because mummy thought he won't know) and Dr Choy gave mummy a pretty interesting diagnostic. Dr Choy said what I have looks like a type of 'Infantile Hemangioma' - swelling with slight bluish discoloration on the skin and warm to touch. He said he has seen several cases like these before and so far he is the only doctor who was able to give mummy a name of the condition I am having.

Dr Choy said what I have looks pretty mild and hopefully it remains at this size if it won't go away on its own (still too early to tell). He said there are several types of treatment:

1. Laser which he does not encourage based on the size of the growth as well as my age
2. Taking a type of high blood pressure medication in a controlled manner to thin the blood and hopefully unclog the blood veins. This I can try if mummy wants to. It is quite safe.
   
3. An operation which he strongly discourage as he said what I have is actually swelling at the blood veins and any surgery might cause heavy blood loss.
   

He advised mummy and papa to monitor for a few more months or maybe a year as he said some will will go away on its own in a few years. Some might remain but looking at the size of my growth, he said it looks pretty ok, not that disfiguring. He did however advised us to be cautious as not to cut my cheek and injure the blood veins.

As the swelling is not as obvious as it used to be, mummy and papa decided to let it be and continue to monitor.

More on Reni

Over the last few days, more requests and comments from Reni...

• Asked me to buy her skin lotion. I told her sure, but I will deduct from her paycheck because I do not supply anything else other than the daily essential items. Then she said no need. Will she use the lotion in my room when I am not around, I am not sure.
• Even before I said anything (my washing machine broke recently) she told me she cannot wash the big items like bedsheets and curtains using hands.
• Asked me and hubby if we have Facebook account. Are you scared yet? I am. I did a quick search but could not find her name in Facebook.
• Told me she doesn't want to bath or feed Zac as he is too young, she is scared. Said she fed her boy twice and the boy choked and end up hospitalised. Why do I have this feeling that she is just giving excuses so she won't have to do so much?
• Got my washing machine fixed today and she asked me what time she should wash the clothes? Told her no washing clothes using machine. Machine is only for 'big items'. Serve her right for making demands even before I said anything. Now she has to wash the clothes using hands!
• She napped on the floor yesterday (she naps daily) so she can watch over Hayley who is also napping downstairs. She coughed slightly at night and told me it was because she slept on the floor in the afternoon.
• Told me Hayley took 1 hr to finish lunch yesterday but a check with papa confirmed she took less than 30 mins. She lied. Probably trying to sound to me how difficult it is to watch my girl.
• Asked me for some notepads. Said she would like to write down the recipes papa taught her so she can go back and open a restaurant.
• Went to Hayley's basket (where I store her stuff like powder, lotion, hair bands etc) and asked if I can give her a hair band (while holding one of it). I asked her why she needs it, she said her hair is getting long. I gave her one. My friend told me I should not have given her, if she wants, tell her not to touch anything that belongs to the family, but instead I will buy her one. This will train her NOT TO simply take things from the house. Sigh.. I really need more training to become an efficient employer.

As for other housework I have no complaints. She will wake up at 6am (sleeps at 9.30pm) and get all the sweeping, mopping, wiping, clothes and car washing done. She still needs a lot of training and reminding on cooking and general house cleaning. She will not automatically wipe dirty areas etc unless told to.

The funniest thing is, she told me she is scared to wipe my girl's bum after she has done her business. Oh boy....

I am sure there will be more to come. So stay tuned.......

Next we are going to get CCTV installed all around the house just to be sure!

Maid, got also susah, don't have also susah. How la like that???

Reni the maid

Reni is my Indon maid, she started with us yesterday. After months of waiting, from Filipino to Cambodian and in the end it was an Indon maid. Will tell you more about the journey of how I ended up with an Indon maid later (long story :-))

Today's post is about Reni. My first impression is "yier... why so black and so plump one". She has very dark skin, like Indian and is very plump. All sorts of questions came through my mind, what if she climb the chair to wipe the fan and the chair could not hold her weight? can she fit into my tiny toilet? will she eat a lot?

Reni is not one of those typical maid which I usually hear a lot about. This is her first time to Malaysia and her first job as a maid. She attends school up to 18 years old (she claimed). She can read and write in Bahasa Indonesia (I gave her a few Bahasa words to read and she managed to read them correctly). She has 6 siblings and she is the eldest. She is separated from her husband and has a 2.5 year old son. She said she is 25. I got all these infor from her, whether they are true or not I cannot verify. When I checked her passport, she is actually 24 so it's ok, she didn't lie too much about her age.

I think she didn't come from a very poor family. She knows how to use rice cooker, iron and said her father owns a handphone. I am nervous when I found out about all these. This means that my maid is pretty smart, don't need me to teach her step by step on how to do the housework or use most of the electrical appliances but it also means that she's pretty exposed and would probably be cunning and cheeky. Sigh... pros and cons.

Anyway, she is supposed to help me with the housework, cook and watch over the kids when I am not around. I am still uncomfortable leaving her with the kids alone for now. Motherly instinct so I am going to trust it. She does things pretty quickly, she woke up at 6am this morning and when I got up at 7.30am she is almost done with the house work; sweep, mop, wipe etc and even wipe clean both the cars. A closer inspection revealed that her work is pretty sloppy, there are still dirt marks on the cars, the toilet is not brush clean properly etc. She is also the type who needs people to constantly remind her to do this and that. Once she is done with what we've asked her, she will sit there and do nothing. She's not the auto type who will go around the house to look for things to wipe/clean. She also does not look like one who adores kids.

On her first day, she even asked me if I would allow her to watch TV if she is done with her work and I am not at home. And today, she asked me if she can go for an hour nap (she's napping now). She dare to ask these when I am home, what would she do if I am not home?

I am also beginning to feel uncomfortable having a stranger around. I hope this feeling would go away after a few days, after I got accustomed to it.

Sigh.. got maid also got issues, no maid also got issues.. how la like that???

Concert & Graduation 2011

Saturday, 19th November 2011 marks another milestone in Hayley's life. She successfully completed her 1st year in kindie and performed in a mini concert. We've never been more proud of her.

She and all her classmates, the 3 year olds, did a dance to the 'We go Together' song, sang the 'Negaraku' and '1 Malaysia' and teamed up with the 4 year olds to sing the 'It's a Small World' song.

My talkative 3 year old was also given the honour to introduce their class performance where she and another classmate (boy) was given the mic, stood in the middle of the stage (just the 2 of them) and had to say their name, their class and the song they will be dancing to. She was brave and had no stage fright whatsoever, so so proud of her!!

The theme was 'Disney World' and this cheapskate mummy did a DIY Mickey Mouse headband instead (in less than 10 mins :-)).

Ceh ceh's supporters

Putting on ICIs. I actually prefer her to be without makeup (how to remove make up for kids and make them wash their face properly after that???).

The teachers also used some gold dust on their hair, SUPER HATE!!

Still ICI-ing

More supporters

Waiting.....

Teachers and students singing the '1 Malaysia' song. There is something which I just have to mention here. Half way through the song, the little boy in orange (the 1st one in the queue) sat down on the floor trying to fix his broken '1 Malaysia' thingy. When he failed to fix it, he started crying while everyone else was still singing. The teacher quickly gave him a new one and he immediately stopped crying. It was really cute ;). And btw, he was the boy that bit my girl here, NOT CUTE! :(

The super cute 3 year olds doing their dance to the song 'We Go Together'. Look at how my girl was trying to 'fix' her partner...

The 3 and 4 year olds singing 'It's a Small World'

Everyone receive a little gift from Teacher Joanne for all the hardwork.

It was a nice hardcover Barney book :)