Why are you getting more independent, boyboy?

My boy boy, the small one... who once I knew was learning to crawl, walking with a stumble, couldn't speak in sentences let alone pronounce his words well, needed to be held on to and watched him like a hawk every other minute... he is wanting his independence now. Well, of course he's not moving out, silly! He's only nearing 3!!!

William's birthday falls (NOT) coincidently on the future king of England, the ever so charming, Prince William's wedding date with Kate Middleton... April 29th. Nearing 3, now he wants to wear his own socks, can get into and pull up his own pants (albeit he looks rather funny having pulled it too high up like a "ah pek"), brush his own teeth, button his own shirt, sometimes just doing whatever he pleases by himself.

Last night I wanted to take a prune out from the bag for him. Oh noooo... he no longer wants mummy to do it for him, he said, "I want to take it by mysseeeeelllff." Fine.

As for brushing teeth and wiping his own face with the wet towel, he's always wanted to do this himself, and I have to coax or trick him to help him. Happy? Ok lar... but at this stage I thought I should be THE ONE doing it, also because I'm a "yim jim por" aka perfectionist when it comes to hygiene of my kids.

Fearing that he and I may experience withdraw symptoms / separation anxiety when he starts school next year, I am already giving him pap talks. I told William boy boy that he will go to school himself (emphasing that word) and Mummy is not allowed to sit beside him. He tells me ok, that "mummy wait outside for me." Yea, I think I will. I probably might just be the weirdo peeping through the glass windows from the carpark, or be a nuisance to the administration by hanging around even after class starts. Or, maybe I would be the mummy crying outside the door while my boyboy jumps around in class and plays with his friends.

It is at this age between 2 to 4 yo that our kids "grow up" so fast and surprises us with many things. When William sings the nursery songs I teach him, he will say this at the end of the song, "Yaaaayyyy, clap hand!!!" and clap his hand, and expect all of us audience to applause too. So perasan, kah?

Well, that's him my boy boy. Maybe one day he will not want me to call him boy boy anymore? Just like how at 12, my bro stopped us all from calling him boy, hahaha, and totally ignored anyone who did.

At least he still wants to hold my hand now. ; )

Allergic to jeans???? What the????

I mentioned somewhere in my previous posts about Vic's allergy symptoms manifesting into red spots around the abdomen and upper thigh area.

During that time, we highlighted this to Dr Yadav (who does her blood test) and he confirmed that this is a form of allergy symptoms, and it is particularly around that area due to the tight pants that she wears which puts pressure on her skin. My Chinese thoughts initially were, "These are toxins popping out from her body, and more so around the kidney area because that's where the toxins come out, right?"

I may have highlighted this to Dr Wong (her allergist doctor) over the phone when I panicked, but after it dried up when we next brought her to him, we totally overlooked. Only at the recent and latest visit to Dr Wong on the way down to Singapore for CNY, did we had a chat with Dr Wong regarding her red spots and that some of her ezcema on her arm folds appear more like pimply lumpy spots, instead of the usual red spread out rashes.

On first check, Dr Wong said this is likely due to chromium and nickel allergy, then he tested her with my handphone that had chrome rings on the handle. Positive! Then he tested her with the little tubes and sure enough, that confirmed his suspicions.

Well, why this and why now? Dr said it's normal for allergic kids to show various forms of allergy from time to time, apart from the main allergies that they have.

All her other allergy points went down...

House Dust Mite = Zero (bear in mind, for blood test, this is her highest IgE level)
Egg = Zero
Candida = Zero
Yeast = Zero

This must be her third time being zerorised, and after all the roller coaster ride, we are happy for her, yet I am secretly pessimistic. I hope she stays clear of her allergies for the next one year, so that she can eat normal food again in Primary One.

What's her nickel and chromium points? Eleven. That means, no jeans, no trousers or clothings with metal buttons. If really die die need to wear, then wear for short while in air conditioned environment and tuck in shirt to avoid direct contact.

We also showed the doctor the corner of her lips, where there seems to be angular stomatitis, which was what her paed diagnosed. Another friend's 4yo son also occassionally gets this, and the same paed diagnosed the same. Apparently, this is caused by lack of vitamins? I have doubts that Vic is suffering from lack of vitamins, because she's tall and big for her age, and eats well, and takes supplements and other than the allergy, has been in good health (praise God).

Dr Wong said Vic's lips was caused by allergy to something in her toothpaste. This is the same Chico strawberry-flavoured toothpaste that she has been using the past 2 years, eversince he said she has allergy to mint, and not able to use normal minty toothpaste like Colgate. But now, Dr is recommending that she try a particular Colgate toothpaste which contains the lowest mint content. Vic was so happy, because she's always wanted to use our minty toothpaste! So now we've changed Vic to that.

This jeans allergy is for sometime, like Elaine, I'm not too bothered that Vic has this allergy to nickel and chromium, so long as it's not any more food allergies. We've gone shopping and bought her more tights, and this jeans-girl seem to have no qualms about putting her jeans aside for sometime. Maybe it's time for her to wear more skirts??? (Wooohoo!!)

Homemade pizza

When we were in Singapore for CNY, we chanced upon a box of Orgran pizza dough mixture which we have never seen in Malaysia before, not even on an online Orgran website.

This is the reason why when we are overseas we always check out their grocery section hoping to find some healthy goodies for Vic.

Here are pictures of our homemade pizza, comprising of bacon strips, tomato paste, red onion and chicken bits. Vic excitedly lay them on after I mixed and rolled the dough into shape. Quite messy, to be honest, and the final product doesn't taste like our typical Dominoes or Pizza Hut, but the kids loved it!

Fooling around with a piece of pizza in her mouth
The raw form, before putting it into the oven
That's a forced smile from Vic, coz she didn't want to be interrupted in such an important job


One box of pizza multimix can bake two 12" pizzas, thin-based. We went back to Singapore two weeks after CNY and stocked up on two more boxes. Of course, the other place to get a good yeast-free, allergy-free pizza based which is already baked is from Woods Macrobiotics which I think taste better than mine : )

Now I can happily satisfy my craving for pizzas and not feel guilty!

Woody & Buzz Lightyear in da house!!

William with his current favourite character... the way he says it - Bbbuuuuuuzzzz Lightyear! If you ask him why, he'd probably tell you because Buzz can fly, and he likes all the buttons and laser stuff that Buzz has. Typical boy!
Wish I could record their scream... deafening!
Both pjs belong to William as Daddy couldn't find one in Vic's size, but little brother is more than willing/happy to loan to his sister, only that he's more possessive over his Buzz pjs! He's such a darling, that he'd thank me even for letting him wear his Buzz Lightyear pyjamas... aaawwww!!

Bird shit and a kick

Two things crossed my mind on our way back home after picking Vic up from school, and put more than a smile on my face. As I related these incidents to Vic, both of us shared a good laugh.

Bird Shit

Spotting a bird shit on my driver side window, I exclaimed surprise and then I shared with Vic what I remembered happened to me many years ago during my work days.

My colleagues and I were having lunch at a shack one sunny afternoon. While waiting for the food, I suddenly felt something soft, something cool, something slimey that just landed on my head. You guessed it... bird shit!

Of all places, of all people, and of all timings... it had to be ME, the chosen one! But no, I did not buy 4D after that eventhough my colleagues were encouraging me to, maybe if I did I would have retired earlier, kekekekeke!!!

A kick for daddy

The mohawk hairstyled boy was having his milk fix on our bed two nights ago, leaning against my pillow, whilst Daddy snooze on the side.

I was at the dressing table and suddenly I heard my honey grimace in pain, and my first instinct was right, I looked straight at the culprit. He was snickering away with the milk tits still in his mouth.

Poor daddy, who went to bed early, who tried hard to sleep and finally slept, suddenly got kicked by his son. I'm guilty for laughing too.

Ting Xia

What does ting xia (mandarin, for dictation - correct me if I'm wrong) and stickers have in common?

To Vic, take a look at her ting xia book... (pictures taken with my beloved s90 before the incident)





Well done, Vic! You definitely definitely surprise all of us! This week, she got another full marks and sticker from her teacher again. Thanks also to Mama who has been helping her with her homework.

As her reward and motivatioon to keep up the good work, we ordered and got her a personal name chop, with a picture of a teddy bear holding flowers, and her chinese and english name by the side.

On another note, yesterday Vic got her FIRST "pat pat" on her hand by her chinese teacher because the previous day, little brother William playfully stamped her new chop on her chinese homework. I wrote a note and attached it together with her homework to apologize and explain that it's by accident, and not Vic's fault.

However, Vic told me her teacher gave her a smack on her hand, she was sad as this was the first time she got disciplined (in her 3 years of kindy, ever!) but she claimed she didn't cry.

Oh well... takes too hands to clap... I told her William was wrong, but she also had to keep her homework and chop in a proper place to avoid such a situation again.

I am grieving over my loss

Yesterday night hubs and I went out for a simple dinner celebration at 1 Utama where we also ran our errands. No more time for nice, romantic dinners at secret hideouts or a hundred roses like our first anniversary, but these days we have to be practical and eat where we are familiar and convenient to run some errands. No complaints, because times together just he and i are so rare and precious.

But last night, before I slept, I wept. I was inconsolable, and as I pointed to the words of William's storybook on the bed, I could not open my mouth, because I was too emotional over what we have lost. I cover my wet face with William's storybook as I sob away.

The hour before, hubs and I searched high and low, each armed with a torchlight, in his car for my lost Canon S90. This is my baby that I have loved even before it came into my life, and fate has it that my Canon S90 should stay with us exactly for ONE YEAR 2 DAYS.

We can't find the S90 in the house, and for a short time I thought William played and hid it, but he firmly said no when I asked him. He even suggested, that "maybe Kakak hid it."

I am sad. And that's an understatement. The thoughts of where it could be, the restaurant that we ate in? Or the news agent that we dropped by after dinner to pick up a magazine? We suspect the later, but we called the restaurant as well and thank God someone from another branch answered and helped check for us.

This morning I headed back to the news agent in One Utama, and was already in contact with a guy from their HQ, who has informed the outlet supervisor to check the store and query the cashier. Negative. I filled up a "lost" form at the shopping mall's customer service, and visited the restaurant again. Everyone seemed helpful and assured me of their security based on their CCTV installed.

Alas, the news agent's HQ called in the afternoon to apologize that they are unable to check their CCTV as it was not on at that outlet, and the other cashier (there were two last night) also denied having seen my camera which was in my new Coach pouch (which my bro bought for me from US only last November).

I am sad. I am freaking sad. And as I write this, my mind flashback again to the times spent "together with my S90" and all those wonderful pictures and videos, the memories created together, the times I sit on my bed or laze on the sofa to run through the pictures. The feel of the buttons, and everything about it.

How can this have happened? Losing the S90 hurts me, and you may think I'm crazy, because it's just a camera. Get a new one? I don't want any other cameras to replace my S90, I don't even want another S90. I have pictures and videos still in my camera, what will happen to those pictures? Will they fall into the wrong hands?

This afternoon I shared what happened with Vic as she was sleeping last night and did not know. She offered me her camera but I gently turned down her offer that all I want, was to have my S90 back.

Give me time to grieve over my loss. Maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months. But I rather go pictureless for some time, putting up only those that was taken before this happened.

My heart pains, and I am filled with regrets - please don't talk to me about my camera just yet because I might just break down again.