all down

Day spreads it to everyone, including me. KK, again, is the lone champion. While Jo, the one we thought was impenetrable, is badly hit.

So it's TV time!

Hours and hours and hours of glorious unadulterated uncensored TV!

No naggy mum!

On okto, on the Tab, on Youtube!

Hello, Sound of Music!

day's mc

Sometimes, all a sick person needs is rest to recuperate. Let the body do its job.

It’s pretty much what we have done with the kids all along so we don’t bring them to doctors – who can get very expensive - very much.

In pre-school, I would just pull them out of school for a few days and let them rest at home with some fever meds at most.

Primary school is a different story. Day is required to show proof of sickness. He has to go to the doctor.

He falls sick for the first time this year - which is a blessing really considering he’s been healthy all year - with a rather high fever and a slight cough.


* The sick eyes

What would have been rest at home with (free) meds from the home pharmacy becomes a trip to the doctor for a $38 medical certificate.

I am also given three bottles of medicine for fever, cough and phlegm, none of which I give Day, because I know what works better is a bottle of Progesic in the fridge. His body will settle the cough, and it has.


* The home pharmacy of mostly (Thank God) untouched meds

Of course it’s a different story if it’s serious but nine out of 10, it’s garden-variety bugs.

What a waste of medicine. There must be a better way of doing this.

anti-yolk

The aftermath of hard-boiled egg breakfasts for Day and Jo.



What can I do with the yolks?

Lu rejects eggs altogether.

missing babies

Flipping through the old blog entries, I suddenly realize: I have absolutely no memory of my kids in their baby days.

When I look at old pictures of Day, I absolutely cannot recall what he was like then. How he moved, how he sounded, how he smelt.

All I can think of is present Day, not baby Day.

Same with the girls.

I wonder, who are these kids with the cheeks?

Thank goodness for video.

But suddenly, I also find that I miss my babies a lot.


* Gosh, who's this??

who looks like me?

I happened to scan in an old photo for an upcoming performance programme booklet.

How old was I?

Five. It was a very happy moment in a cable car, in 1980.

KK and I are in agreement. Though all three look very much like him, one of them looks a little more like me than the others.

bouquet for mama

From Lu. Flowers stay alive for a day or two!

muffin time!

This time, Choon makes muffins with the kids!



He pulls a recipe off the Net, asks what flavour the kids want and we all settle on Banana and Chocolate Muffins.

This time, it is Jo who is very much involved. Day seems to have outgrown the novelty and he runs to the computer in between popping into the kitchen to have a look.



Lu's job is to beat the egg.



And the product!



Of which the kids eat a few bites. They don't seem to like muffins. But the adults lap it up.

bachelor bearing bike

The eligible bachelor (yes I have to) returns from Darwin on a mission to deliver to his brother-in-law a customized bicycle.



Bike nut Choon had ordered the parts from all over the world to be delivered to Darwin, and then got on a plane with bike parts in tow to assemble for KK in Singapore.



Bill for KK: About $1,800 for the bike and half of Choon’s airfare (it would have cost about the same to send the bike back on its own as unaccompanied baggage, so KK might as well pay so we can all enjoy Choon for a week)

Both KK and Choon were terrifically excited about the bike, which Choon had built according to KK’s specifications (comfort, speed, lightness in order of importance, for KK's 20km daily ride).



Just as a matter of record (because we find ourselves going back to the blog to check on stupid things like these), The Bike is a combination of parts Choon had lying around at home (handlebars and stuff) and the new:

* Fully-sealed hydraulic disc brakes


* Mavic disc rims which weigh all of 350g and Swiss-made DT spokes which are light and stiff


* Shimano XT hubs


* Shimano SLX cranks


* Selle SMP hybrid seat which offers a comfortable gap for KK’s package (really to me this seems the most important)


To my questions of so what, so what, so what, Choon says: It’s strong and light. Whatever.

KK took it for a spin and pronounced that it’s completely different from the Cannondale which he had bought to replace the stolen bike (and which is coming to me now).



Kids were over the moon that Kaofu Choon is back again.

As usual, everyone waits up for him, jumps into his arms, plays with him and rapidly finishes the gummies he brought over from Darwin.

jo's first "swim"

A few weeks ago, we finally managed to persuade Jo to join Day’s swim class.

She is a most reluctant student who mostly tries her level best to stick out her tongue (not in naughty fashion, in a put-out fashion) and scoot away from Vincent whenever he even comes near or calls “Jody!”

Vincent, a most gentle coach, has thankfully figured out a way to sweet-talk, cajole and tease her into going through the motions.

She also wants me to sit a metre away from the pool at the poolside so she can climb out and run to me whenever.

Here she is going through the Freestyle motions, with life jacket. She has discovered the insurance which a life jacket provides and will only do what is required of her, with a life jacket.

I’m just very glad her head is in the water.

hair matter

KK has an opinion about the girls’ hair: Long hair suits Jo so her big face looks smaller (“so much face”, he says), but short hair will bring out Lu’s small face.

So I bring Lu to the hair dresser.

BEFORE


DURING (which she is perfectly still and composed)


AFTER

a responsible first-born

Something interesting about the first-born: He’s so responsible. (I wasn’t though)

And nothing brings it out more than Chinese.

While the rest of his life is pretty much a breeze, Chinese is a hurricane which throws him up and spits him out.

OK it’s not as bad as that.

But of late, he has come to me with a suggestion: Mummy I think I need Chinese remedial and tuition classes. I am making mistakes in my work. Can I have Chinese classes in the holidays?

He diligently does the Chinese assessment books which he asked me to pick off the shelf at Popular.

Earlier in the year, I also record an episode one night where he broke down into a creature pitiful to behold.

Eyes red, nose dripping, he was so moved he spoke in a series of hiccups. He had Chinese mo xie, which involves memorizing a passage and spewing it out for the test.

“But... but... I... I... don’t want to... to... get everything... wrong... tomorrow!”

I’m thinking seriously about the Chinese holiday classes. I can’t fault his earnestness.

little touches

Our house is festooned with happy little bits and bobs from the kids.

Some of it, like pictures on the fridge, I put up.



Others are surprises which I suddenly spot as I am going round the house.

The kids liberally use scotch tape and double-sided tape on the walls and doors which is probably damaging (the blu-tack has run out), but who cares?

Most of it is from Day.


* A Lego pull for their favourite cupboard in the house - the junk cupboard


* A paper sun at the entrance of his room


* One of my favourites because it looks so happy. A jellyfish which pops out from the wall with rope tentacles

Some of it from Jo.


* Who sleeps in this room


* No food, no drinks, no sleeping (Jo says it means non-members of the family are not allowed to sleep in her room)

None from Lu, yet, but likely coming soon!

day cooking

I wake up from a nap and walk in to the kitchen.

I find Day labouring over a pot of instant noodles.



I thought it was funny.

g12 eye

Yoopee! I've got the new cam!

With the G12, I come full circle.

I started out with a Canon G2 and it's still in my drawer, unable to work, but till this day I still wish it could. To me, it was magic.

Kids through the new eye...


* His teeth are visibly moving as his mouth gets larger




* Pretending she has a fever

save my skin

There’s only so much bravado you can have in life.

Here’s what I believed: That people will survive.

On the small scale, it meant that we didn’t sweat the small stuff and, well, anything goes.

House near the road? Sure.

Dusty air? OK, the kids will get tougher.

A less-than-rigorous cleaning schedule: All the better.

Go camping? At the drop of a hat, minimal preparation.

I lived and let live, gung-ho, believing that it was all for the better.

I have changed a little.

In the past few months – for me - I've had two fungal skin infections requiring long courses of scary-sounding “sporanox” and three courses of antibiotics to clear up weepy skin infections. I have gotten used to the taste of Augmentin and it doesn't even make me want to puke anymore (I bite them). All of it is eczema complications.

I no longer dare to go into the sun (sweat), will probably never swim in a pool again (chlorine) and have given up all the rough-and-tumble sweaty activities I used to love.

I do not want to shake newsmaker’s hands or I hide my hands under the table because of the weepy lesions on my fingers. One time I had to write in a notepad, I covered up the lesions with a plaster only to realize that after half-an-hour the plasters were clearly, embarrassingly, soaked through with pus.

And no more spontaneous hugs from the kids. When they accidentally rub away the soft crusts on my legs and arms, exposing raw skin, it's a bitch.

The last derm visit was for a completely different non-eczema related deep-skin eroding scarring infection which had the doctor scratching his head: Hmmm. This typically affects homeless people who live in very unhygienic conditions. How come you have it?

The kids are fine. Lu's eczema is still well under control (maybe because we brought her while she was still very young) but Day does remark: Why do you have so many scars on your body, mummy? I don't want to have eczema! (I hope so too, boy)

No more. I do not want to live on antibiotics to kill bacteria along with my immunity just so that the infection goes away temporarily to return with a vengeance.

Clearly, my skin defenses are down. Compromised. Weakened.

If I have to live with this forever, I had better learn to manage it properly. I can’t be on antibiotics, steroids and anti-histamines forever.

So, the campaign: Save My Skin.

In a nutshell, I think I have to be very, very kind and careful with my skin. I have to become more OCD, like some of my friends, disinfect and clean everything. Yet, I cannot over-clean in case it becomes drying.

At the moment my skin seems to react to heat, humidity (which accounts for fungal and bacteria growth) sweat (my own), dust, metals perhaps. And maybe even stress, I don’t know.

The campaign will be costly. KK, the dear man, insisted on investing in an air-conditioner and an air-purifier so we can keep the air in our bedroom, the nearest to the main road, cleaner.

I have also visited a homeopath, and it was a very curious and lengthy experience with the strangest medicines.

And I am throwing away my goal of wanting to earn $X a month because that is clearly stressing me out, so I'm turning down jobs.

Keeping my weeping fingers crossed.

tab

The latest toy to take our family by storm: The Galaxy Tab.



Why the Tab? I don't know. KK just came home with it one day.

Here’s what we all do with it:

KK takes it with him to the toilet and uses it to surf soccer news and check his e-mail when he doesn’t bring his laptop home.

I take it with me when I go out to check my email, or when I go to the gym, to entertain myself with Youtube vids as I walk on the treadmill.

Day plays the occasional game or watches some Youtube videos.

Jo and Lu watch Peppa Pig on it.

For now, I can also use it to take photographs before the new cam arrives (I traded in the Ixus for a Canon G12)

book nook

The big bookshop is dying.

There used to be a Borders near us, but it’s gone the way of the dodo.

Now there’s only Kinokuniya.

Admittedly, we aided in the demise because we never buy books and I don’t like buying books for the kids. We only borrow.

But a bookshop is still a very important – and nice – place to be in to fall in love with books.

Good thing is, we have two bookshops within walking distance of home.

One was The Reading Place, which is thankfully still around.

The other is a new one which is less than a year old, and is clearly one of those dream businesses set up for love rather than money.



The Little Bookshop, up a flight of steps on the second floor of a shop house, hosts a smallish collection of books, curated by owner Irene, with a focus on cooking, travel, local fiction and Top Tens.

We always see Irene there, even though she has a full-time job.

There is a whole lot of heart and love put into everything in that space, from the thematic displays (Halloween now) to home-printed flyers on story-telling programmes and workshops, to the food which Irene cooks herself in a small oven and frying pan (cookies, brownies, quiche, brunch breakfasts on weekends)

Recently, they've started offering more food, presumably because food sells better than books.

The kids love The Little Bookshop to bits.


* The kiddy reading room

They run upstairs, remove their shoes, play in the space, flip through the books, eat ice cream. Day's fav: Sea salt and caramel. Lu's fav: Cookies and cream. Jo vacillates between those two.



We love it just as a warm and calming space, very near home, to hang out.



It helps that we’re always the only ones there and it literally is like hanging out in someone’s home.

We’ve always wondered if it would close down.

As much as we like the quiet, we hope more people come by and spend money so that it can stay open.

snap

I took them, they took me.

opinionated

It used to be that every outing is a sure success. Where, no matter where you go, the kids would enjoy it because they just want to see the world. A sandy beach, a park, even a boring office. It all works. There’s always something new to experience.

As Day tipped into primary school, it’s no longer the case.

This is his idea of a good day out: Can we go stay in a hotel, order room service and go for a spa? Can we go shopping please? (he doesn’t even sound like a boy)

Today we bring the kids to NTU. Well it was errand-driven – KK wanted to borrow books from the library – but we figured the university’s an interesting place, even for kids.



It’s big, full of open spaces and there’s stuff to see.

The entire way there, in the car, Day broods.



In the library, he broods. “There aren’t any books here I can read, it’s so BORING.”



He hardly looks around.

The girls, perhaps because they are younger, are still receptive. I think they perk up when we tell them that papa and mama met here and if not for the university, they’d not be here at all.

But the moment when everyone brightens up is when we discover Sakae Sushi, along with MacDonalds, Canadian Pizza and Old Chang Kee somewhere near where Canteen A used to be.


* The view from Sakae Sushi. Of the engineering faculty.

I mean, food in an air-conditioned restaurant. We have become so typical. Day sucks up his sushi with gusto.

We are the only customers at first. Then lecturers and students stream in for lunch. For a restaurant in NTU, it seems to be doing pretty good business.


* Spot the girls

But I don’t think I want to come back with the kids.

lu's art

The art which a child first produces when they learn how to make marks on a piece of paper are, I think, the most unique.

Day and Jo draw very neat correct pictures these days, but what I really miss are the kinds of funny, abstract things which Jo used to draw.

Lu is there now.

Here's her idea of a Lollipop tree with a ladder going up the whole trunk, and apples exploding out of the foliage. I've never had a kid who thought apples should grow out of the tree.

Her drawing style: Pencil in right hand, eraser in the left, she is fussy to the max and is erasing as much as she is drawing.



(Jo contributes the four people beneath the tree: Me, Day, Jo and Lu. Of course.)