Toot toot time

Many mothers confess that after the huge investment of time and effort on their firstborn, the same cannot be said of the attention given to their subsequent offspring. I admit that I am guilty of it too.

On the other hand, because of the experience gained in teaching Big Buddy, I have also discovered that I am more effective in guiding my younger one and bolder in leading him to explore areas and concepts that are traditionally reserved for older children. Do not get me wrong, this is not a case of kiasu-ism at work. I do not push my kids unnecessarily and certainly never beyond their interest and capability.

After recognizing both upper and lower case letters of the alphabet and numbers 1-10, Little Buddy breezed through writing them and has mastered writing them from memory. Over a span of 7 months, since I started Little Buddy on written work, he is now able to write his English name, read some English and Chinese words, draw expressively and converse intelligently with a wide vocabulary. He handles writing and drawing instruments well with a firm and confident grip and turns book pages without creasing them.

On life skills, he has been able to use the toilet, remove and wear his trousers and briefs and flush the toilet without help. He can self-feed if he so desires and is able to communicate his needs and wants more than adequately to people around him. He displays a self-confidence way past his 3 years, pooh-poohs babyish games and often prefers older play mates who play more interesting and rowdy games.

He has a strong character with definite likes and dislikes which he does not hesitate to let known. He is strong-willed with firm opinions that are difficult to sway.

Much of Little Buddy’s development has been self-driven as he constantly shows interest in what his brother does, often emulating him in speech and actions too. His progress too has been helped by an exceptional memory, he remembers very well things that were said, taught or done just once.

As I grow along with Little Buddy, I have been pleasantly surprised and secretly proud of his achievements. While he is strong in character and not easy to teach and guide, I rejoice at his well-rounded mental, physical and character development.

Getting ready for school

Knowing Little Buddy’s strong character, we encroached the subject of him going to school very early on although he will only join his elder brother next year. As expected, we encountered resistance from him right from the start and all the way from there.

He argued that he does not need to go to school to learn as Mommy and Grandma can teach him at home. He insists that he is a small boy and cannot go to school yet (he says this when he is asked to do something he does not want). He refuses to go near the school bus when it arrives to fetch Big Buddy and will run off.

Sigh…thankfully he is now more receptive to the idea of going to school after continually talking about school, the friends he will make, the fun activities he will enjoy. Big Buddy’s excited chatter about his school day has helped tremendously as well.

At the current moment, we are stuck at the stage of getting him to accept the idea of going to school in the school bus. Although he enjoys bus rides, for some unfathomable reason, he balks at the idea of getting on the School Bus.

Today, while waiting for a neighbour’s kid, the bus aunty and driver invited Little Buddy to go up the bus and have a look. With much persuasion, he finally relented and allowed me to carry him up and be introduced to the Bus Aunty, Driver and the other children. He remained disinterested and insisted on getting off after a while.

However, it is a positive step forward and hopefully, after today, his resistance will slowly come down and we can soon count it as one challenge overcome…

I can't walk...my leg pain pain

Much to my displeasure, one of the recent activities Little Buddy has taken to is jumping. He loves to climb onto the bed or sofa or the toy box and from there, take a flying leap to the floor.

I should have no qualms if he wears appropriate protective gear and practises his jumps in a safer environment. As it is, I have shouted myself hoarse in stopping him whenever he does this at home. I have taken the soft approach of explaining to him why he should not jump from such a height, the tough stand of punishment in the naughty corner and even caning but to no avail. Once my back is turned, there he is at it again.

That is, until last evening when Little Buddy complained of pain at the back of his left knee and upon examination, I noticed some swelling of the knee. Fearing the worst as he could not even stand without support, I brought him to the KK Women's and Children's Hospital, for an X-ray just in case, he had a fracture. Armed with masks and with apprehension at entering a possible H1N1 environment, we quickly made our visit and left within half-an-hour, thankful that there was only a handful of people at the Children’s Emergency.

I thank God that it was just a strain. Little Buddy had most likely pulled his hamstring, thereby causing some swelling. The doctor bandaged his knee to minimize movement in that knee joint and assured us that recovery should be in sight in 2-3 days’ time.

Mini cyber geeks

I wanted to create an email account for each of my sons so as to enable them to each own at least a decently-named email address.

Little Buddy has no problem getting his at Gmail since he has a relatively unique name. However, I had difficulty finding something meaningful for Big Buddy. I knew his name was a popular one but was surprised that when combined with his father’s last name, it was still a pretty much common occurrence.

I created accounts with Hotmail and the associated @live.com but I failed to get them to work with my Microsoft Office Outlook despite checking out the various help forums and fiddling around with the settings, etc.

Finally, for ease of checking emails, I decided to settle for Gmail for both fellas till I figure out how to get Hotmail to work with my Outlook.

Me a cyber geek, not!

To the movies

Last Saturday marked the first cinema visit for my two boys.

We were given tickets to watch Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen last Saturday and since the men in my family are crazy over Transformers, I thought it would make a great family outing. On the other hand, I had my apprehensions too.

I had heard that the movie was a marathon 2½ hours long and was in fact wondering if the kids would be able to sit in the cinema for that length of time. Would they fidget, stand on the seats or talk loudly and disturb the other patrons or clamor to be let out? Would they be frightened by the loud sounds or the darkness of the cinema and end up with nightmares at night? Oh my, such a long list of considerations you may say until you know my boys.

Big Buddy is fearful even of Tom and Jerry cartoons when it turns a tad violent. You will never catch him watching thrillers, he heads for a hiding place when suspenseful music comes on to up the ante. Little Buddy is braver but he can be unpredictable. While he usually has no issues with watching suspense thrillers, he refused to sit in for a 5-minute show when we were at the Army Museum two weeks ago because it had gunfire.

Well, I decided to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. In the worse case, we will just leave the cinema should the children get too difficult to handle.

And I am glad we went for the movie, the kids thoroughly enjoyed the whole movie experience. As for the loud noises…Little Buddy slept through the last 30 minutes of the movie ;-)

New toys again

The boys were recently given a box of Kid Knex constructors by their Grandfather and I secretly love this new toy myself. Many stores sell the Knex for older children but not Kid Knex for the really young kids.

A lot of thought has been put into making this range of toys because the pieces are of excellent quality, well-built with no sharp edges which may pose some danger to young children. They are easily joined together with simple yet secure connectors, colours are bright and vivid and the end-results, simply too cute for words.

Here are the boys with some of their creations on an early Sunday morning.

Is there school today?

Big Buddy would ask me this everyday till he finally understood that school is out. The mid-year school holidays will come to end in a day’s time when school officially starts on Monday.

It had been a whole four weeks of fun and play for both boys. Little Buddy enjoyed having his elder brother at home to play with and at Big Buddy’s instigation, gets into a whole lot more mischief than usual. To balance out, I try to set some semblance of routine with time set aside for some holiday work, otherwise it will be tough for Big Buddy to settle in to school when term resumes.

Due to the quick and rampant spread of the H1N1 pandemic, we decided not to travel overseas for a vacation. While it is not really deadly for most, we will definitely not court it. Moreover, it is a hassle to have to declare our travel itinerary to schools and offices on our return. We also limited mall shopping, preferring time spent outdoors and at less crowded places.

It had been a great break for Big Buddy but I think he looks forward to seeing his friends again. This past week, he had been counting down to next Monday and I daresay, I too, will be glad when school reopens : )

The saga continues...

Good grief! What else can they do to further distinguish themselves with notoriety? The pediatrics clinic with bad service that I was ranting about earlier just scored themselves a further black mark in my book.

On Tuesday evening, the usual pediatrician that my children see was closed so I had no choice but to bring Big Buddy to him. Big Buddy was in tears and complaining of pain at his ear/jaw area as he ate his dinner. Fearing a possible episode of mumps as I could feel a swell, Hubby and I decided to bring him to seek medical attention.

The conclusion was that it could be a possible lymph node infection or a case of early mumps. So, on the safe side, Augmentin was prescribed as Big Buddy had two previous lymph node infections that resulted in incisions to drain abscesses that formed. When the nurse advised on the medicine dosage, something struck me but what it was did not register till we came home.

Last night, I decided to do an online check on Augmentin and its recommended dosage for children as I had a hunch that something not right. I discovered that the amount prescribed Big Buddy (2.5ml) was way below the recommended range for children his age. I then dug up past records that I kept and confirmed that the dosage that he last took in 2008 was 7.5ml. This represents a huge disparity of 5ml so I called the clinic to seek clarifications.

It was then that the attending nurse confirmed that the dosage advised us is in error and it should be 7.5 and not 2.5ml! Apparently the nurse attending to us that night made a mistake when typing the medicine labels. Although thankfully, the swell and pain had subsided, given Big Buddy’s history with lymph node infections, this is something that could have led to actions more drastic than oral medication being needed.

I am shocked at the grave mistake made by the clinic. Granted that the doctor called me within short notice to apologise, I sure hope my feedback will result in his staff exhibiting better care and attention in this area.

Boys at play

Today is the start of the 1-week school holidays and Little Buddy is just ecstatic that his big brother is home to play with him.

Both boys had their batteries recharged after their afternoon naps and decided that it was time for a boat trip. Big Buddy emptied one drawer of the toy cupboards and turned it into a boat and brought Little Buddy for a boat ride.

The loud chuckles and squeals bore testament to such enjoyment that I had not the heart to stop them though I know the marble flooring will suffer from their role-play.

You dare call yourself a doctor?!

Last Friday, Big Buddy’s fever rocketed upwards and my instinct told me that something was not right. What with him being ill for close to three weeks with a runny nose and phlegmy cough.

Actually he just went to the pediatrician last Monday with the same symptoms but the pediatrician was adamant about not prescribing antibiotics. I was fine with that decision that time as I am not particularly into dosing young children with antibiotics unless it is necessary

The first thing that irked me on this repeated visit was the counter staff. Big Buddy’s medical records were misplaced. I tried to help them narrow their search by informing them when my son last visited the clinic, thinking that perhaps the attending nurse that fateful evening had stuffed it into some allocated cubby hole that they could then check. The response was a frosty stare, along with a casual instruction to her colleague to prepare another blank folder for my son.

Was I being impertinent? No, I did not think so. My tone was polite enough without a hint of accusation. I did not like her nonchalant attitude but tolerated it as Big Buddy really needed his medication.

When we finally went into the consultation room, I gave the pediatrician a factual run-down of Big Buddy’s condition since there were no medical records to refer to and finished by expressing my concern over the prolonged period of illness. In the next instant, I was totally shocked by the pediatrician’s reply.

He said that he does not trust what parents’ tell him, that parents tend towards over-dramatization of symptoms and he will usually disregard what parents tell him. All this said in a high whiny voice in imitation of how parents must have sounded to him, with hardly a hint of apology but with lots of eye-rolling and a smirk on his smug face.

I was incredulous and utterly disgusted with his holier-than-thou attitude. Granted that some overly-anxious parents do paint a worse picture about their child’s condition, but should he not understand that it probably stems from worry more than anything? As a trained physician, should he not have sifted out what he perceived as facts and at least maintain a professional image by not offering his biased views? Finally should he not seek to reassure patients and their parents rather than belittle others and make known his obvious disdain?

This is not the first time I patronize this clinic because it happens to be the pediatrician nearest to where I stay. Friends of mine and I have groused over his lack of bedside manners but this time, he has really gone overboard by displaying a total lack of respect for others. Coincidentally, this pediatrician is located in E**** Mall, the same place where another terrible doctor practises. What is it about this mall that attracts less-than-desired doctors?

Since last Monday, I have brought Little Buddy to another pediatrician. Her charges may be higher but at least, she, along with her staff, offers assurance along with medical intervention and none of the rudeness of the former!

Say cheese

It has been quite a while since we manage to take a nice shot of the whole family together. Most of the time, it will be either Hubby or me behind the camera while the other spouse herds the kids together. If you have kids as young and as active as mine, you will probably agree that it is a near-impossible feat for them to hold any pose long enough to be captured by the camera. When Big Buddy deigns to cooperate, Little Buddy will be elsewhere gamboling about and when we turn around to get him into the picture, Big Buddy seizes the moment to scamper off.

Because posed pictures are such a challenge, we usually take candid shots of the kids. We simply point and click away in bursts and hoping that at least some photos will turn out fine. Whenever we end up with nice photographs, it is double the reward for our efforts.

So it was a nice surprise for us to be able to reap these shots at my brother’s wedding.

Quality time with Little Buddy

Sometime ago, I wondered if I have been spending as much time with Little Buddy, teaching, reading and playing, as I had with his elder brother. The thought that perhaps I had not been fair in my division of time stabbed me with guilt. So I decided that I will set aside a portion of my mornings to do just that with him.

Yesterday, I started Little Buddy on some simple worksheets to introduce him to written work. Perhaps it was the novelty of a new activity or the opportunity to finally emulate his elder brother during Study Time, he was very receptive to formal written work.

I confess I had harbored misgivings at his ability to concentrate sufficiently long enough to complete one worksheet. He surprised me with his enthusiasm and more than that, I was elated at his ability to comprehend the given instructions.

Here is the worksheet he spent time on this morning. I may be biased but I think it is an exceptional piece of work by a 32-month-old. After I explained what was required of him and gave basic guidance for the first problem, he easily completed the rest with no mistakes.

Flea fly mosquito

Little Buddy woke up with more than fifteen swollen and angry red bite marks on both his lower legs. It must be those dratted mosquitoes again! It broke my heart to see him scratching away in distress over the terrible itch afflicted on him.

About a month ago, both Big Buddy and him were covered with numerous mozzie bites despite the installation of insect screens in our house and weekly fogging exercises at our estate. A call to the National Environment Agency revealed that a couple of breeding sites were discovered at a nearby vacant plot of land. A week after, there were still lots of mosquitoes around the estate and we resorted to ‘fumigating’ our home nightly with insectide and carrying out a witch-hunt for those pesky mosquitoes before we turn in for the night. It has minimised mosquito bites on the family but once in a while, one or two may elude us and they happily have a blood feast at night.

Although the mosquitoes are not of the dreaded Aedes specie, they are huge and their preferred targets are my boys, not the adults in the household. I can sleep beside Big Buddy and not have a single bite while the exposed areas of his limbs are marked with bites in the morning. Subsequently, the bite site will inevitably break out in huge swollen patches because of the children’s sensitive skin.

Checks with friends confirmed that we are not the only victims but apparently, there is a sudden proliferation of mosquitoes all over Singapore. Urghh…I really really hope the mosquito situation will be resolved soon.


Flea, Flea Fly, Flea Fly Mosquito,
Calamine! Calamine ( 3x ) lotion
Oh no more calamine lotion
Itchy wicky scratchy wacky up and down my backy wacky
Itchy wicky scratchy wacky up and down my backside
Spray at the bug when I spray it with my spray can Phss...

Boats, boats, boats...again

In a bid to raise the number of local visitors to certain attractions on our sunny (and hazy?) island, the Singapore Tourism Board launched the 2009 Reasons to Visit Singapore promotion. Now in case you are wondering, I do have better things to do than to be surfing the STB's Uniquely Singapore website! I got to know of this promotion through an online parenting forum that I participate in.

With the free tickets, it would be a wonderful opportunity for the family to enjoy an afternoon at the Singapore Flyer. However, to our dismay, when we arrived in the afternoon, we were met with posters declaring that all tickets have already been redeemed. I had entirely misjudged the capability of my fellow citizens to stake their claims way before opening time. I was told the queue started on Friday night and all tickets were given away by Saturday 9:00 am!

I forgot that for most Singaporeans, anything with the word FREE or LIMITED EDITION draws crowds and queues. For those uninitiated to the amazing Singapore queues, have a look at the Hello Kitty dolls craze, iPhone 3G Launch and the rush to buy an apartment.

So, we went for the Singapore River Cruise instead. It proved to be a treat for Big Buddy and Little Buddy with their ceaseless fascination with transportation. Their joy brought smiles to our faces as we marvel at the simple pleasures that childhood dreams are made of.

School days

Big Buddy came home with this photo and pointed out his pals in school.

You know your child is growing up when he starts having his own bunch of friends and talks about going to so-and-so’s house or inviting so-and-so over to play. The realization that he has grown so much since his toddler years hits me as I think about the way his personality and character has formed and matured since he started school last year.

Previously quite easy-going, he is now very vocal about his likes and dislikes. He exhibits maturity in his conversations with adults and displays keen problem-solving skills in the face of a set of challenges. He has outgrown his shyness with unfamiliar faces and calls out a friendly hello to people he meets on the streets and in the lift. He is also slowly finding cheeky ways to out-maneuver Mommy.

It warms my heart and infuses it with a sense of parental pride and achievement to witness my elder son’s development. Truly I look forward with anticipation to the years to come.

Carry on growing son, the whole world is waiting for you!

Now I know my ABCs…

I have been flashing alphabet cards daily to Little Buddy since he turned one year old. About 2 months back, I switched my materials to cards that depict purely letters without illustrations - materials which may perhaps even be perceived as boring by young children. I have formed neither expectations nor targets, only mere curiosity, as to when he would be able to recognise and read them all.

However, his innate appetite to learn and ability to remember has me excited at his progress since. He would frequently point to words and letters in books, on boxes, clothes, signs, etc and ask “What letter is this?” I began by telling him what those letters and words were until one day, I decided to play a trick on him and told him the wrong letter on purpose. To my amazement, he said “No!” and corrected me. That made me sit up as I realized that he is actually absorbing what I have been teaching him.

Before you chastise me, let me say that I am fully aware that young children soak up new information like a sponge. It is just that while I did the same with Big Buddy when he was that age, Big Buddy did not exhibit any full comprehension that he understood me till later and it was with illustrated alphabet cards.

Three weeks ago, Little Buddy read all 26 letters correctly and has proceeded to spell some simple words.

Look at the water!

Ever since I dug out a kite from the cupboards, the boys have been clamoring for some kite-flying action. Good weather conditions beckoned so we decided to pay the Marina Barrage a visit after recommendations that the rooftop garden is a perfect spot for kite-flying.

The Marina Barrage generated a bit of a buzz at its official opening on 31 Oct 08. With its dual function also as an integral component of a flood control scheme, it is touted as Singapore’s first city reservoir with a range of fun activities. Hubby and I thought it would also be a good opportunity to have a look-see at the place.

Loud sirens greeted us the moment we alighted from the car. We had a hunch that the reservoir crest gates were about to open and thus made our way there to witness the rush of waters. I had heard how there is no schedule for the opening of the crest gates but is instead dependant on mother nature - the tides and water levels within the reservoir. Thus, we were thrilled to be just on time to catch the action. The crest gates opened really slowly and it was just amazing to watch the waters in the reservoir tip over the gates and rush out to sea. The rush and roar of the waters, with the wind caught in our hair, made it an exhilarating experience for our family.

We ventured into the Sustainable Singapore Gallery which explained Singapore’s water strategy and demonstrated the functions of the Barrage with a working model. Before the kids created any damage with their overly-enthusiastic pushing and pulling of buttons, levers and what-nots, we hastily made our exit.

We made our way to the rooftop with the intention of flying our kite but alas, the wind was fickle. The direction changed every once in a while and made it difficult even to launch the kite. Meanwhile, the kids were apparently more interested to run around chasing each other and so the kite was abandoned. We ran down the sloping garden towards the ground level where the water play area caught the kids’ interest and we spent some time at the shallow pool before calling it a day.

It was a wonderful day spent, part in fun and part in educating our kids on water.

Your son has been chosen

Big Buddy came home with this small card tucked into his bag. Subsequently, his nursery teacher confirmed that he has been selected to be the emcee for his class item for the school concert. So, the purpose of the card is for us to help him memorise the scipt.

I admit I am secretly pleased and proud that Big Buddy is given the opportunity. At the same time, I wonder how he will react in front of so many people as he tends to be rather shy in the presence of crowds.

This brought to mind the time I was asked to audition for an emcee role in my junior college's production by the Chinese Literacy Drama and Debating Club. On the encouragement of my Chinese class teacher, I joined the club to improve my Mandarin. I remember standing tongue-tied on stage while being prodded and exhorted to say something to introduce the production. No prizes for guessing how that audition turned out for me.

I strongly hope Big Buddy will fare way better than his mother did then.

Tile painting

We happened to walk by the Crossroads, a Yellow Ribbon Project exhibition at Marina Square yesterday. There was a booth organised by hansart, one of their sponsors and my boys were invited to try out tile painting.

Because of the age difference, both boys were given different art materials. Big Buddy was instructed to draw a design in pencil on his blank white tile before going over with paint while Little Buddy was given coloured markers and told to draw straight away on his. That went rather well till Little Buddy saw his brother working with paint and his independent streak took over.

Little Buddy demanded to be allowed to use paints with full autonomy as to how he should hold the paintbrush, what colours to use and where to apply the paint. Considering his age, he has rather good control of his fine motor skills, managing to produce a fine piece of work all on his own.



Big Buddy displayed an acute interpretation of his version of a dog and a cat which he painstakingly drew with a pencil but which resulted in an interesting smorgasbord of colours.



The session concluded with 2 proud parents and 2 happily-satisfied boys, a proud Big Buddy and a paint-streaked Little Buddy.

Oh joy of joys

This morning Big Buddy gave us a nice present.....a dry pull-up pants!

Finally, after a long long time, Big Buddy woke up this morning with a completely dry pull-up. The very first time despite him not having woken up in the night to use the toilet. After waking up this morning, he went to the toilet and came to tell me 'I'm dry!'. Heh heh.....maybe this is the result of telling him how wonderful Little Buddy has been at not passing urine into his diapers for the past one week.

Just as I was resigning myself to the thought that it may take him quite some time before he manages to wake up to use the toilet at night, he springs this nice surprise on us. This just proves to me yet again never to underestimate the influence of one sibling on the other and to remain optimistic in the face of challenges of bringing up children. A breakthrough will come at the moment you least expect it to.