What I Want To Be?

While going out for dinner with Max, he told me that Ace told him in the car on the way home from school, that he wanted to be a doctor when he grew up.

"Really ah? How come he wants to be a doctor?"I asked Max.

"I asked him the same question too. He said he wants to help people when he grows up..."

Wah, I was impressed and was thinking that the teachers in his school have done quite a good job.

But that was not the end of the story. Max went on to ask Ace about the hotels that he said he wanted to build. "So you want to be a doctor... or do you want to build hotels?" Max asked Ace.

"Mmm..."Ace paused to think. After about a minute of deep, hard thinking, he declares. "I want to build hotel. I want to build big big hotels!"

Turned out that when we were in Suntec over the weekend, Daddy asked him if he would like to grow up and build buildings like these for sale... and he remembered the conversation they had..

Alas, that is still NOT the end of the story. After our dinner and our appointment, we went to Popo's house to fetch Ace. I went up to pick him up while Max waited for us in the car.

"I heard you wanted to be a doctor, Ace... Why do you want to be a doctor?" I asked him. "Erm.. because I want to POKE the playdoh..."

Oh, but I thought you wanted to help people? "No, I want to poke poke 打针the play doh.."

What about the hotels you wanted to build? You want to build hotels or you want to become a doctor?

"I want to become doctor..." he replied.. the lift door opens and we saw a cat walking past. "I become doctor and then I poke the cat and 打针 and then the cat dies. Eht (sound of dying)..."

"Ace, if you want to be a doctor, your job is to save lives the very best you can, not to poke them with needles and make them die..." I told him...

Since children and what they do are a projection of our sub conscious mind, I guess me and max have very different ideas about these occupations.. hahahaha ;)

Previous Post: JJ Lin's Youngest Fan

JJ Lin's Youngest Fan

Nowadays, when Ace sees JJ Lin Junjie on TV, he will shout, "JJ! JJ Lin JUNJIE!" just like a true blue fan.

Even if he heard JJ's lastest song on radio, when I asked him, "Who is singing?" He would say "JJ!"

Well, he really was quite an accidental fan...

When we brought him the other day to the book fair, we had wanted to catch Nanoboy. But we hanged around for a while after that for a while and because JJ Lin Junjie was up next, the MC kept talking about JJ and told the crowd. "I will count to three and you shout together with me.. 1, 2, 3.."

"JJ林俊杰我爱你!" Wait a minute, that was my son shouting!

And so he became a JJ Lin fan.

In the evening while we were watching TV, he saw JJ again and repeated "JJ! JJ Lin JUNJIE!" like a crazy fan...

Gosh!

Daddy doesn't quite like it that his son is a fan of a singer. But well, I told Ace that JJ is a very talented artiste who writes beautiful songs and sing well. He makes people happy with his songs.. "Next time when you grow up, you can also choose to be like JJ and help to inspire alot of people and make alot of people happy through your dance or songs.."

Previous Post: Sport!

Sport!

Long, long, ago when me and Max were just lovers, we would sit down in one dark corner of a certain park in Singapore and fantasize about our life together in the future....

In our fantasy, sport fanatic daddy Max will take on the role of teaching our future children how to do boyish, sporty stuff like playing soccer, basketball, badminton and running while the arty farty creative mummy Angel would teach them stuff like how to enjoy a good book, a good movie, a good piece of literature and maybe, just maybe, how to dance:) Mummy Angel will never ever need to do any sports and will be contented just to lead a peaceful, quiet and sedentary life.

You see, we have our reasoning behind this particular arrangement. My hubby Max is a very sporty person and being so, he has always wanted to get a girlfriend and a wife who is sporty and shared his passion for sports like him. Somehow, by a twist of fate, he ended up marrying a wife who is labelled "the most unsporty person on the universe".

Actually, it ain't that I dislike sports. After all, when I was in primary school, I was a softball player. I represented my class in track and field and shot putt, I joined badminton competitions and I even have some medals to show for it. Secondary school saw me training with the school badminton team for a while and I even enjoyed an occasional run round the track during my weekly physical education lessons in JC and I do enjoy sweating it out.

But because I didn't really have any friends who were very much into sports and mainly because I had a negative belief that I had POOR APTITUDE in sports (no matter how hard I trained in my various sports attempts, I always ended up warming the bench even though I was the one who went to all the practices and other people only came when they felt like it), I just didn't really get into it.

And like a vicious cycle, the less sports I did, the more weight I put on.

But it finally got too much for me and I decided to lose some weight. I lost 15kg in 2 months and met the love of my life who turned out to be a sports fanatic.

That gave me some motivation to start doing sports again. One: to impress the very sporty boyfriend of mine.. and two: to keep myself in tip top shape...

We started to go running together, I would watch him play soccer, we went to learn how to dance hip hop together, we played badminton together, we would go hiking (there was once we walked all the way from Bedok Jetty all the way to Tanjung Rhu) and right before our wedding, we even went to the gym together!

Alas, those sporty moments were but short lived :)

Shortly after our wedding, I became pregnant. Sports then became but a distant memory for me. We acquired a car and I even lost the need to talk to and fro from bus stops and MRT stations.

Once Ace was born, I started to be a little bit more 'active'. Other than the daily "exercise regiment" of mopping the floor, washing the dishes and washing the clothes, the one that burnt the most amount of calories was probably just carrying the baby around!

When Ace grew older, we started to act out our fantasy and Max started teaching Ace how to play ball, play badminton and how to swim. My only involvement in these somewhat sporty arrangements was to carry my 120gm camera to take pics of them enjoying themselves.

The side effect of this though was that I found it difficult to shed off post baby fat. Despite using many different ways to diet, detox away my extra weight, I was just not eating little enough and exercising enough to maintain a trim, slim figure. I had no choice but to admit it was time to shape up and start doing something sporty.

I started thinking that maybe it was time to get out of my sedentary lifestyle and start a more active lifestyle.

I started thinking about planning to go for some dance classes like aerobics or hip hop. I started searching for gym kakis and a gym membership. I even did one or two trial classes for Bollywood dance and yoga and invested in an exercise machine.

Time flies though. Now that my son is 3.5 years old, the only part that seemed to get any exercise at all is my brain.. which just keeps thinking and (ONLY) thinking about when to start exercising:) My exercise machine just collects dust in one corner of the living room. The only person who tries to use it is my son.

Inspired by the Nuffnang project to write about an unforgettable sports experience with my family or friends (I want to win that Ipod Nano!), I looked through all my photos in the past 3.5 years and realized that in the past few years, the only sport our whole family ever did together was a hiking trip on the Southern Ridge Tree Top Walk.

My very sporty female friend, Mag, who is in her late forties got me and a whole bunch of us friends from the Lions Club to go on a trekking trip walking through the tree tops from Henderson all the way to the Hort Park and back.

When I realized how long the journey was, I really regretted agreeing to her invitation. Just 200 meters into the walk, I already felt like dying. I really cannot understand how she can actually do this three times a week.

However, as we trekked along while I shared an umbrella with my mum because it was drizzling, I started to enjoy the experience.

The cool breeze and the smell of fresh air was indeed a refreshing change. I cannot remember when was the last time our family did something so sporty together.

That was probably the first and ONLY time that whole whole family (including my son, hubby, sister, mother) attempted a sports activity together!

But boy was the trek a tough one for me. Being out of action for a few good years meant I had ZERO STAMINA. But it felt good to be able to get my adrenaline pumping and to get all sweaty. It even felt good to feel that familiar aching feeling on my calfs. The self delusional thought that my fats must be melting and disapatting somewhere into the thin air in this TOUGH exercise added much joy to the process as well.

When I finally completed the whole trek and ran past the finishing line hand in hand with my son, words really could not describe the immense amount of satisfaction that I had!

Inspired, I signed up with another group of friends for the Women's Day Out and did a one hour dance lesson and another one hour yoga lesson back to back. I sweared I lost 2kg just by sweating that day! Though tired, the feeling was very shiok:)

As per in my fantasy with Max, my son still goes to his Dad when he wants his badminton, soccer or swimming lesson and he comes to me when he is keen to look for company to do things like reading or singing and dancing. The only difference is that I try to lead a less sedentary lifestyle by adding some workouts and some sport in my life and the upside of this is that I seem to be able to hold my weight down much better:)

Now, I am going into the http://www.womenandsports.sg/ website to find some fun sports to get me started on some fit and fun activities. Looking at my old photos has also made me ambitious about wanting to go back to my size 8 figure.... Of course, I am secretly hoping that with my new found zeal for sports, I can inspire Ace to be sporty and active instead becoming to a computer or PSP addict in future.

Anyway, looking for sports kakis now.. I am keen to do some sport related to dancing or aerobics. Anyone keen to take up the offer?:)

Previous Post: Sport!

Police Catch Mummy!

I am pleased to announce that all the lessons about occupations in school have not been in vain because at the very least, Ace understands the 'work' of a policeman.

The other day, Ace was talking to himself and he sounded like he was telling a story. I caught the words, "And the policeman catch him!" and so I asked him who did the policeman catch.

"Policeman catch 坏人!"

When I asked him why, he told me it is because "he is a naughty boy..."

I told him that policemen catch people who commit crime.

Anyway, the other day, he was suppose to change into a shirt with sleeves and go toilet and pee before he took his nap but he kept running around and trying to avoid doing all these and so I took his bolster and told him that I would keep his bolster unless he went to the toilet to pee and unless he changed out of his sleeveless shirt.

He put his hand on his ears and had the following conversation with his imaginary policeman friend, "Hello, police, you come and catch mummy.. ok, bye bye..."

I asked him why he asked the police to come and catch me and he said, "Mummy is a naughty boy. Mummy 拿我的抱枕..."

Later in the day, I showed him the packet of NDP stuff that Stanley got someone to send over for Ace. "Ace, Net net give you a surprise leh.. this is a present from net net..."

And he asked me, "Mummy, why Net Net buy me a surprise present? Is it because Net net love me?"

"Yes, Ace, Net net and Ah Yee love you very much..."

And then he took all the things in the bag out to play... he found this magnetic bookmark and told me, "It's a phone, can call police!"

And proceeded to call Police to catch Papa, Mama, Gonggong, Waipo, Laoma, Yeye, Nai Nai, etc...

PS: I asked his teacher if they taught him this. Teacher Toh says he probably picked this up from his peers because even though they learnt occupation this term, they did not teach them about policemen. I am proud to announce though that Ace can name doctors, firemen, etc in CHINESE :)


PPS: Yday night, Ace wanted to drink milk and asked me to make milk for him. I said to wait a while first and we started horsing around with Daddy. Daddy took away his bolster and Ace took his imaginary phone to call police to "catch papa.."


"Ok, now you catch mama..." Max told him. "Nooooo.... cannot catch mama.. Mama is a girl... and mama is good girl.. she make milk for me...."


We laughed until we were bent over...


But right after he finished his milk. "Hello, police? Come and catch mama, ok? Bye bye!"


So much for gratitude....

Previous Post: I am DADDY!

I am DADDY!

Ace had fun pretending to be DADDY the other day by helping MAX PUT ON HIS DIAPERS! Hahaha...

Not a very good fit.. but a very good try I'd say! ;) Hahaha..

Previous Post: This BOTAK is Papa!

This BOTAK is Papa!

Ace is quite good with origami now and rather enjoys them :) He has since learnt how to fold cats, fishes, flowers, rockets.. etc.

Usually he is asked to paste them onto paper and design a background for it as homework.

So we brought his two rockets home and pasted it on paper...

He said he wanted to draw people inside the rockets and for one rocket, he wanted to draw :"Ace!" And to help us recognize it is Ace, he added three strands of hair at the top.

In the other rocket, he wanted to draw Papa. As he drew the big, round circle (which was meant to be Daddy's head), he told me, "This botak is PAPA!"

Hahahahaha...

The other day we were in the car and discussing about whether to cut Ace's hair shorter and then Daddy asked him if he wanted to be like Daddy and be Botak. "No, I want to be more handsome." Ace replied.

"Who told you that Botak is not handsome?" Max asked him.

"Mummy lor..." Ace replied.

Oops.. hehehe..

"But Ace, Daddy still very handsome even though he is botak.." I remind him..

Still, he insists, "I want to be more handsome..."

Previous Post: Nanoboy!

Nanoboy!

You know, one of my mentors told me before that 人是追求快乐，逃离痛苦的动物. That means that humans either chase after happiness or run away from pain.

We are usually both but you tend to prefer one over the other. Ace is definitely a chase after happiness type of guy.

A week before, Ace's Gandie Zhiguang had a roadshow at the bookfair and his company, Scrawl Studios, has some stage show to promote their new cartoon series, NANOBOY.

Gandie still passed us some NANOBOY stickers and Ace loved it so much that he promptly pasted on his bed. So for the past one week, the reward of watching NANOBOY was used to entice and motivate him to do everything from keeping toys, to wearing his shoes by himself, to finishing his dinner to going to school.. you name it, we've used it. (Sorry, Zhiguang, we've abused your creation...)

Finally, it was saturday. Finally, Ace finished his right brain training lesson. Finally, Ace finished his lunch.

"Are we watching Nano boy now?"Ace asked.

Because we were way too early, we told him we had to wait somemore and so he got upset and went into tantrum.. kept wanting Daddy to carry him. We walked around the Anime Fiesta nearby and saw lots of interesting costumes and finally, it was time for Nanoboy!

While we were walking back from Carrefour toward the convention center, every 3-5 steps, Ace would ask me, "Are we going to watch Nanoboy now?" "We go and watch Nano boy ah?" "我们去看Nanoboy啊?"

I nearly fainted!

(You can view more pics of the event HERE)

Anyway, Ace took part in the contest and a question correctly:) It surprised me cos in the past, he wouldnt have put up his hand to want to answer the question but he did! :) And he shouted out the answer loud and clear into the mike! I wish I could take a picture of that moment ;)

Anway, he won a free Nanoboy poster and some more stickers! No prizes for guessing where the stickers went to... YES, his bed..

As for the poster, he just kept bugging me to paste it on the cupboard at the doorway so that the first thing he sees when he goes into his room is NANOBOY! :) hahaha...

After all the excitement, it seemed that he didn't really want it to end. After the event, we were deciding whether to go for tea and he told us, "I am not tired..." but by the time we reached the cafe, he was totally knocked out! hahahah....

Previous Post: I Not Feeling Well

I Not Feeling Well

It started off with me falling sick.

For some unknown reason, I felt really sick.. It could be a healing crisis and also could be just me not taking good care of myself. I started to feel a pain in my throat, blocked nose and worse of all, a aching around my lymph nodes and my face... everyday, I would feel slightly feverish and my lymph nodes felt so swollen that the swelling was affecting my headache and my eyes.

Everyday, I felt like my head is constantly aching and it is going to like split open anytime soon with a great big "BANG" and my eyes felt so swollen and painful they were like going to pop out of my head anytime soon.

It didn't feel good when I was sleeping yet if I did not sleep, the pain is worse.. so for a few days, I had Max bring Ace to my mum's place while I rested at home and did NOTHING.

Afraid that Ace might feel left out or upset at that arrangement, I told him that I was not feeling well and that I am sick, that is why I cannot spend so much time with him because I don't want to make him sick as well.

A few days later, just when I got better, Ace started coughing a little bit. "Shucks! I still passed it to him in the end!" I thought to myself.

When we picked him up from school, as usual, I asked him how was his day. "I not feeling well, I am sick..." he replied.

"Oh really? That's too bad... then we cannot bring you out and you cannot go mac donalds this weekend..."

Upon hearing that, Ace changed his tune. "我没有咳嗽。我好了!" And he never tried to say he is sick again.

But his cough took a turn for the worse after we brought him to mac donalds and he drank the apple juice there. And come monday, he refused to wake up despite much cajoling.

"I don't want to go to school..." and Ace hid his head behind the big bolster.

When his dad asked him why he doesn't want to go to school, he said, "I am not feeling well. I am sick. I cannot go to school...."

I asked him who said that he is sick and cannot go to school. "Teacher Toh says I am sick and I cannot go to school."

"Really? Oh, but you are going to discovery center this weekend. If you are sick and cannot go to school, then you cannot go discovery center lor... If you are a good boy, we bring you go and watch Gandie Zhiguang's Nano boy..."

And with that, he decided to wake and go to school anyway. Wah lau, I also din know how to pretend to be sick to skip school till I was 18. My son 3.5 years old can do tat....

So when I went to pick Ace up the other day, I checked with Teacher Toh about what happened. Apparently, she did tell them that they will not be able to come to school if they are sick when she encourages them to drink more water so that they will be healthy.

But the cough did not seem to get better no matter what I fed him and what I did to him. The next day, it got so bad that when Daddy woke up, he decided to take child sick leave to bring Ace to the doctor. But Ace started crying real bad.

So I went to pacify him.

"Why are you crying, Ace?"

"I don't want to go see doctor..." and he continued to cry as big tear drops start flowing down his face.

"Why?"

"I scared scared..." and he continued to cry. "I don't want to 打针... I want to drink 奶奶凉水because then my cough will get better...."

So I pacified him and told him it is ok. The doctor will not give him an injection.. blah blah blah.. only to find out later that Daddy was the one who told him that if his cough does not get better, he will have to bring him to a doctor and the doctor will give him an injection.

The end result, he did not go to the doctor but was happy to do EVERYTHING we said.

He even allowed me to apply VICKS (which he detests the most) on his feet and his chest before he slept because I told him that his cough will get better if I apply VICKS on his chest and his feet. Usually he will scream and shout if I apply VICKS on him and because of that, we even use VICKS as a deterrant for him to put anything near his mouth by telling him that if he does that, we will apply vicks on his mouth.

Anyway, after two days of 爱心凉水 from Nai Nai, Vicks, Pi pa Gao, LOADS of VP and Chloreanna and not forgetting to mention loves of tender loving care from Daddy, Mummy, Waipo, Waigong.. etc, he is now much better ;)

Previous Post: Achievement

Achievement

Ace is really growing up.. he is starting to understand recognition and even have a sense of achievement when he manages to do certain things.

If he has done something well and we forget to praise him, he will remind us... "Mummy, I so clever leh..."

The other day, he said something that kind of surprised me and let me really understand that he is really starting to understand what is achievement and a sense of recognition.

You see, since Ace was about 1.5 years old, he has been going for right brain training lessons. During his lessons, there is a segment on memory games. The teacher will show the children pictures of 4 objects in a particular order. First for 30 seconds, then 10 seconds, then 2 seconds.. and afterward, the children will have to rearrange the pictures of these objects in the correct order as seen.

When Ace started out, he was quite good at it. He gets at least half of them right at least half the time.

Then for some unknown reason, his brain started to reject this activity. For the longest time, he does not even want to place the picture cards in the correct location. He is just plain not interested.

After a month of cajoling, he started to place them in.. but he would anyhow place and always get ALL WRONG.

Then he changed school and this did not seem to change. It went one step furthur with Ace insisting that he does not want to follow the teacher's answer sheet and he wants them in HIS WAY, HIS OWN ORDER and he insists that HIS WAY IS THE RIGHT WAY.. (so young, already so much control..)

This very patient and 随便mummy just let him be lor.

Then all of a sudden, last week, he like suddenly GOT IT and 开窍 like that. Without my saying ANYTHING, he just paid alot of attention to teacher's cards for that 30 seconds.. and then afterward when he was putting the cards in the right order, you could really see him contemplating, remembering and using all his focus....

I asked him, when he was done, "Is this the same as Jin Sensei's pictures?"

"Yes!" He told me very confidently.

Once Jin Sensei flashed out the cards, within 1 second, he realized that he got all right and he told me, "Yeah! I got all right!"

I was really shocked because firstly, he could tell he had all right within a second.. (I usually had problem even asking him to put it back into the correct position when the answer key is shown) Secondly, I also not aware he had all right until he shouted that and I double checked again.. and mostly it was because i could feel his happiness at accomplishing this task.

But the next 10 second one.. he got distracted by a crying classmate beside him and got it all wrong.

And for the 2 second one, he got it all right again! I very amazed lor!

And if I must add, I am very happy.. JIA YOU, Ace!

Previous Post: See You Later

See You Later

First, updates about his sprain. I called his school at 3pm or so yesterday. Teacher says that he is ok. Can eat, can play and has been using his injured hand. When he reached home, his hand was back to normal. Can play with toys, can shake hands and it has totally recovered!:)

Ace is super cheeky now lor...

In the morning when he leaves for school, he will wave bye bye and tell me, "See you later, alligator!"


And sometimes and we are just talking cock and chatting, he will tell me that he is the baby alligator, Daddy is PAPA alligator...


"So what am I?" I asked him.. expecting him to tell me I am MUMMY alligator..


"You... you are OLD alligator because you are OLDER than me..."


Wah piangz!


PS: That was written some time ago, he has since progressed to calling himself Master Guigui (after Master Wu Gui from Kungu Panda. According to Ace, he is Master Ace Gui Gui, his mummy is Master Snake and make a guess who daddy is? Yes, Daddy is Kungfu Panda!


Max wonders why he is different. Most children would want to be Kungfu Panda, the main character, right? I guess Ace values being WISE and SPIRITUAL bah....


Previous Post: Ace's Sprain

Ace's Sprain

Okie, this mummy made a mistake. Sorry, Ace!

This little boy really sprained his wrist somewhat... His teacher called me at around 3 plus in the afternoon on Monday and said that Ace kept holding on to his hand and when they pressed it and asked him if it was painful for him, he said no. But if they tried to turn it round and round, he would give and expression of pain even though he does not cry or he would call out, "pain, pain, pain..."

His teacher says that children don't lie about such things. Perhaps because I havent been the most honest child on earth, I guess I projected my lack of integrity on my son and thought that he had been faking it.. even at 3.5 years old.

But well, what has happened, has happened. I forgive Ace and I forgive myself.

Anyway, Max brought him home early and we couldn't really decide what to do to him. Sometimes when you twirl his wrist, he says it is painful. Sometimes he says it isn't. And the whole arm was a little tender and swollen. But other than that, he was laughing and happy all the way. Just that he kept using his good hand to hold the wrist of his injured hand.

If we brought him to a Chinese Sinseh, i was afraid they might pull too hard and cause him more pain and I have heard of them giving the wrong diagnosis and thus the wrong treatment before.. if we bring him to a doctor, I am also afraid of the same thing would happen.. So since Daddy used to be from St Johns and is more experienced when it comes to injuries, I decided to listen to him.

Our verdict- do nothing. From his symptoms and from the way it happened, my guess is that it is a mild sprain. So first day sure will be very painful one. Second day will be ok already. Daddy says even if we brought him to the doctor the doctor would very probably give some painkiller.. they wouldn't be able to do anything.

That's what they said on the internet as well. I emailed a fellow parent from the US who mentioned in her blog that her son has the same injury and asked her for advice and she very promptly replied. Very grateful to her.... She said to bring him to a doctor if he doesn't get better after observation... cos usually the doctor will just give some medication and charge you money. There is nothing they can do.

So leh, we let Ace watched TV and while he is engrossed in the TV, we would massage his hand (Daddy says the way to let him get well is to massage his hand) and I noticed that everytime he is watching TV, he doesn't complain so much of pain. Once his attention is not there anymore, any small action we do to his hand, he shouts "Pain, pain, pain!" and cries.

I guess it is probably really slightly painful. But in this case, the psychological factor I feel, outweighs the physiological factor. His pain does not seem to be consistent and I noticed that whenever he lies down for a while and suddenly sits up, I think due to the rush of the flow of blood, he will feel pain and cry abit.

Anyway, we sort of cheered him up with a Panda Biscuit, fed him some dinner and played with him for a while (He even wanted to play LEGO with one hand) and then we put him to sleep. I also put my hand on his wrist and told him I am sending him love.

Given that it was a special circumstance, we decided to let him sleep on the Kiko Bed. But just so that he would not try to break his hand just to sleep in our bed, we told him to sleep in our bed because our bed gives out Far Infrared and Negative ions.. helps to rejuevenate cells and heal them faster I feel.. but I also told him it is a special treat because Daddy wants to go and watch soccer tonight.

Before he slept, I fed him one N-ma (which has lots of Astaxanthin that helps improve muscle strength and helped me prevent muscle ache after strenuous exercise during Women's Day Out).

Nainai and Popo kept calling to ask how he was but he was not in a good mood and did not want to talk to them.

Alas, while he was asleep, he kept holding on to his injured wrist.

Every now and then, he would call out in his sleep, "Mummy, mummy...." only to quieten down after a while when I snuggle closer to him to let him feel my presence. After about an hour, I realized that somehow, his pee, for some unknown reason, squirted out from his diapers onto his top.

Headache ah! The pee was wet and smelly but how to change him out of his clothes without him making any noise.. he virtually refused to move his hand at all and plus, he was already sleeping!

Boh pian lor.. use force lor... luckily the shirt was a big one and so it was easy to take out one arm and the head before sliding the shirt down the injured arm. When I did that, Ace started crying. He was crying real loud with tears in his eyes. So I had another problem... how do I help him put on a shirt?

In the end, I took out the only comfy shirt with buttons down the front row that he has.. the one that his school used for his Kukabara dance and tried to put it on for him. Even though he din have to move his hands much when I put it on, he still cried and cried.

After I manage to get him to sleep, about 5 min later, "Mummy, mummy.." He was pulling at his pants. Seems that that was wet as well and so I had to change for him again.

After a few more times of whining and call ing out for me, he finally settled in and started sleeping.

The next morning, he woke up pressing on his wrist and kept giving me an M-shaped mouth expression. After some discussion, we decided to keep him at home for one day to recuperate.

The whole morning, he was holding on to his wrist and giving me a very pitiful look. All of a sudden at 11 plus in the morning while we were watching TV together, he jumped up from we were sitting and told me, "Mama. 我的手好了!"

Previously, he would let his hand lie straight and let it hang loose like it really had no use like that. It seemed as if he his hand is totally useless and he acts like that hand is 残废. Rather, he sorts of behaves like the single armed swordsman.

So when he walks, he wobbles because that hand is perpetually straight and hanging and cannot help him balance at all.

After he declared that his hand has recovered, it is at least not hanging loose and straight by the side but swinging along to help him gain balance. And when he is playing, sometimes when he forgets, he will even use the injured hand a little bit but always with the good hand supporting it. He even attempted to play badminton with me!

Anyway, his teachers were so nice, they even called to ask after him in the afternoon.

By night time, his hand was quite ok. We can twirl it anyway we like without pain and he only feels pain if we flex his palm 90 degrees to his arm either up or down and there was still a slight swelling and Daddy says it is because he did not use that arm much and that is why there is alot of fluid retained there.

I told Ace to look at his arms and asked him if he noticed the swelling. I told him it was swelling because he is not using his hand. So he wouldn't be able to recover quickly if that is the case. Then I reminded him that if he recovered, he can go swimming and do other fun things like going to the playground to play. Also, if he does not recover by tommorrow morning, daddy will have to bring him to a doctor and they might give him an injection.

So he started to complain less when we asked him to use his injured arm and is alot happier to let us massage it. Daddy was very goood help in this aspect as he keeps taking effort to entertain Ace and make him happy so that he can massage his hand. On my hand, I tried to play games with him to encourage him to use two hands.. I also use milk to entice him by telling him I will give him his milk if he holds with two hands.

I also put my hand in his wrist to send alot of love to him. I think it does make him feel better because every now and then, he asks me to send love to his wrist. Even before he sleeps, he wants me to hold his wrist and send love to him. So I fell asleep in his room sending love to him..

Anyway, I am pleased to announce that as of this morning, Ace can now lift his arms and put on or take off t-shirts without any pain, he can use his injured hand to shake hands with me and daddy (even though he insists on using the other hand to support it cos he acts like that hand cannot bend at the arm and be lifted up without help) and the ultimate test came when he brushed his teeth by himself with BOTH HANDS! Initially it looked like it took alot of effort to lift his injured arm up and it looked like his hand was in some awkward position but after a while, he too, realized that it was not painful and he started to use that hand to brush his teeth properly. I was soooooo happy!

Previous Post: My Hand Pain Pain

My Hand Pain Pain

I sometimes hate it when we have had a fantastic weekend. That's because Ace would start wishing that the weekend never ended and he would throw a tantrum when it is time to go to school because he doesn't want to go to school, he wants to continue to have lots of fun with me and Daddy...

This monday morning was one such morning and while getting him to sit up to put on his shirt after his bath, I pulled him up by gripping on his arm.. not his wrists.. but his arm.. and very gently too..

Suddenly, his mouth started to go into an M shape and he started to cry... "My hand pain pain.. my hand pain pain.. " he repeated and started to cry and make a big fuss. I kissed his hand and asked him to put on his shirt but he kept saying that his hand was very painful and that he could not put his arm into his shirt's armhole..

And then just when he quieten down and thought that enough is enough, his dad came home with breakfast and he went to do a round two of "My hand pain pain.. my hand pain pain.. " to his dad. And afterward, he kept saying his hand was painful and kept crying and kept acting like his arm was a totally useless arm...

Just to entertain him and make him shut up, his dad massaged his arm and blew him kisses. "Where is the pain?" I asked him and I noticed he kept pointing to different places on his arm... not only was it not consistent, the points he pointed to were really quite far apart....

Also, when you teased him abit, he seemed to have no problem playing with you with the other arm...

"Can i have a plaster?" He asked. Me and daddy smiled knowingly to each other and took out a plaster and pasted on his arm. "Do you feel better now?" I asked him. "Yes..."

Pls lor.. where got plaster make arm sprain feel better one lor!? Think his mummy stupid or wat...

So I let him be and I fed him some breakfast and sat down to watch Sesame Street together with him...

After a while when I sensed he was in better mood, I told him. "Ace, I know that you did not hurt your hand. I know that it is not painful at all. But I went along with you because I wanted to see what you will do. Remember, Mummy always knows when you are not telling the truth... firstly, I want to tell you that whether your hand is painful or not, I will love you. I will also play with you and pay attention to you even if your hand is well. You just need to ask me..."

"Secondly, if you tell me your hand is painful but it is not, that means you are not honest. Mummy don't like it when you lie. I like it when you are a honest boy because it is important to be truthful and honest about things even when it is not so easy to do so..."

"I also do not like it when you throw a tantrum and keep crying. I like it when Ace is a happy boy. If you are sad or hurt, it is ok to cry. It is NOT ok to cry when you are just trying to get attention. All you need to do is to tell us and we will give you all the attention and love you want... ok? Can you don't do it again?"

He kept quiet and hooked my finger as a promise not to do it again...

"So remember your promise ok?" And all of a sudden, while he had been sullenly watching sesame street with his hand on the 'hurt arm', he suddenly used his usual happy voice and asked me lots of questions about the characters in sesame street.. as if to change topic...

Hai, 人小鬼大....

Post Script: His teacher called at around 3pm in the afternoon and said that he kept complaining that his hand is painful. It is not painful when they press his hand but if they turn it, he winces but does not cry. Says he is a brave boy but we better bring him to a doctor.. Dr Chua AKA Max brought him home early and I think he really sprained it. Cos it is a little bit swollen.

Liverpool's Youngest Star, Ace Chua!

The other day, Max promised to bring Ace out for a soccer game and because we couldn't make it in time to go mac donalds for breakfast on saturday, we asked him if we could go on sunday instead before the soccer game and he said YES.

He was in good mood that day and just before we left, he promptly posed for some photos.

At mac, he still in good mood and when I said I wanted to take picture of him.. he promptly posed for photos everytime i said cheese and he could even come up with his own pose.. like model like that..

Then he said he wanted a balloon and so Daddy asked him to go and get a balloon himself. "You go over there to the aunty who is wearing spectacles and a cap and then you say loudly to the aunty 'Can I have a balloon please?'. Go and get what you want.. try..."

So Ace walked toward the aunty but she was engaged with other duties like refilling stuff and answering queries. And then, Ace started to ask her... she heard him but wanted to finish her work first and so she did not give him a balloon immediately.

A little bit upset and also impatient, Ace tried to walk back to our table only to look into a human sea and not remember were we were seated and so he started to cry.

So I went over and then brought him to the counter and asked him to ask for a balloon again.. and he is all smiles after that.

But Ace was quite whiny the whole day that day.

Afterward, we let him play a bit at the playground and he cried when he fell. He usually doesn't cry but merely declares to us that it is painful. He only cries if it is very painful but it did not seem as his fall was really very painful cos the moment i kissed his leg, he stopped already. I would suspect he was just trying to get some attention.

After that, we went to a grass patch and asked him to start his soccer game but he didn't want to. "I want to go inside.." he pointed to the Futsal court.

So we asked for permission to go in for a while but when we were at the door, he didn't wanted to go in and started crying again. "I scared scared..." he told me and I didn't really know what he was scared of.

After two or three kicks, he decided that he has had enough and then he declared, "I want to go home, Mummy. I want to go back to 422. I want to go back to my house."

But Daddy didn't even get warmed up yet and wanted to get him to start playing by teasing him and asking him to play monkey to try to get the ball so Ace 少爷started to throw a tantrum and cry again.

"Ace, don't cry. Do you want your ball? If you cry, will you get your ball? You keep your eyes on the goal and go for it. Don't give up. Go for the ball and get it if you want it.." I felt like some soccer coach giving a prep talk.

Finally, with some help from me and some relenting on Daddy's part (Daddy was in a tantrum as well), he got the ball and we went home. PHEW...

You can see more of that day's pics HERE.

Previous Post: TV Addict

TV Addict

The other day, I went into my room, came out and saw Ace in this position... that that brought back a slush of memories about the time when I was young :)


When I was very much younger, I was every bit as much of a TV addict as I am now :) I loved watching TV so much that during my night feed for milk, I would often time the speed I am drinking my milk to the timing of the show. I would time it such that the very last drop would go into my mouth.. just as Crocodile Tears started playing in the background.. which signified the end of the show..


I think that was the exact position that I was in when I was drinking milk while I enjoyed my TV:) hahaha


When I was pregnant, despite lots of well meaning advices from friends to:

1. Stay away from TV or your fetus will have lots of garbage in their sub conscious mind


2. Stay away from horror movies or shows which have relatively negative themes like violence, death, etc

I went ahead and watch LOTS OF DRAMAs with lots of gore, sad stories and rubbish...

After which when Ace was born, I felt soooooooooooooooooooooo guilty for being a bad mum.

I think when you have children, they don't just inherit your genes but also your hobbies and habits as well...


So I think.. Ace was a born TV addict...


Previous Post: I So Fast!

I So Fast!

There is a downside to Ace being more mobile and independent.


Now that he is capable of doing things like change, wear his shoes etc, he wants to do them himself.. and very often at his own speed.

The more you hurry him, it seems, the slower he will get.


And yet, he insists that you are not to help him.


The one that really gets on my nerves is packing his toys.


Now that he goes to school, he is trained and understands a need to pack up after he finishes with a game and I make it a point that he keeps the last game he plays before he gets to play the new game.


But leh, it gets on my nerves that the more you hurry him, the longer he takes. Add that to the fact that he likes to throw all the toys from the box all over the floor... something that makes your house look like it has just been through world war 3 or something... it aint very good for this mummy's patience.


Not only that, as he packs up.. with every single toy he picks up, he would play with it for another 5-10 min and he ends up taking 2 hours to pack the toys back when he could have done it within 3 min!


Sometimes when I have time, I let him be. After all, I understand he is exploring...


When I dun have the time, I would hurry him and end up making him SLOWER! I don't know if he is doing it to annoy me or what but experts tell me that hurrying our kid gives them more expectations and anxiety so it adds up to a viscious cycle and makes them slower...


But now I am clever. When he is slow.. I will start to pack the toys and tell him, "I am so fast.. I am so fast.. " And then I pack and pack and when I am done, I tell him, "I am so fast, I win!"


After a few times, I notice this is a much better way to motivate him to speed up because the moment I tell him, "I am so fast!" he starts to pick up speed and repeats "I am so fast!"


And most importantly, this is applicable not only to packing toys, putting on shoes, wearing his clothes and is even applicable to when he is walking too slowly... ;)

Previous Post: I Am Born!

I Am Born!

I was looking through my pictures together with Ace the other day and I came across my pregnant photos.. and so I asked Ace if he knew who that was.. "Mummy!" he said.

I asked him then if he knew what was inside my big tummy...

"Baby lor...." he said.

"Do you know who is the baby? It is Ace!"

Somehow, that got the idea that he came from my tummy into his little intelligent head.

From then on, he would often do the "我生出来了" (I am born) game and it goes like this.

He would tell me he wants to be a baby and ask me, "Can I go into your tummy?" then he will lift up my shirt and put his head inside my shirt where the tummy is and then after a while, his head pops out and he tells me, "我生出来了!" And then proceed to do baby talk...

And then I will cuddle him or pretend to make milk for him.

Sometimes, his daddy would entice him.. "I want to eat biscuits now. But babies cannot eat biscuits.. they only drink milk.. do you want to be a big boy or eat biscuits?"

"I am a big boy now!" he declares.

Anything for food I say! :)

Previous Post: I Don't Like You

I Don't Like You

Now that Ace is better at expressing himself.. he is also better at emotional blackmail.. yikes!


For example, if he is in a bad mood, if you do not give in to him, if you irritate him or if you make him angry or upset, he will say to you, "I don't want you. I don't like you!"


When he says that to Waipo or Waigong.. I will ask him... "Are you sure you don't want Waipo.. she loves you so much you know.. she takes care of you, she bathes you.. she buys jelly and biscuits for you.. she buys you toys and clothes, she tells you stories and do so many things for you.. are you sure you dun want Waipo?"


After a pause and he thinks things through, he would tell me, "I want Waipo..." And after that, he would be willing to apologize for his tantrum.


Now, the true challenge comes when the I-dun-like-"YOU" target is actually me. Somehow when that target is ME, it is not so easy to keep a cool and calm attitude and not react without emotion...


Sometimes when I can handle it better, I tell him, "But I want you and love you leh!" And then I hug him and tell him I am sorry I made him upset...


Sometimes when I can't, I automatically resort to guilt and threats. "Don't want me ah.. ok, bye bye..."


And then I ignore him.


And then after a while, he comes to me. "Mama, I want to eat biscuits..."


"But you don't want me right? Then you dun talk to me..."


And then he cries and says, "I want you, I want you..." And then with a smile hanging at the corner of my lips. I hug him with satisfaction. "See, he wants me!" goes this voice in my head.


Now that I think back, I find this sort of reaction and thinking silly and even childish... But I am no saint...and my teacher, Chuck, says that people who are called Angels are called so because they want to hide the 'devil' in them... hahaha...


But I guess writing and blogging about this makes me more aware of this ego reaction.. so I resolve to resolve the issue with love instead of fear and threats in future :)


Anyway, I read that most kids do go thru this phase, ESPECIALLY when they are secure. (Woohoo, Ace is secure!)


Young kids have to feel safe enough with their caregiver to test out how to express negative feelings, as well as positive feelings.


The child therapist who wrote that says she worries more about kids who don't express any anger or sadness!


Anyway, she suggested clarifying and guessing why they are angry.. (Are you mad that I won't let you eat the cookie?) and remind them that it's normal to feel angry and it is ok to tell others that you are angry.. but it is not ok to act out the anger by physically hitting, kicking or biting.


She says this will give us a chance to teach children a bigger "feelings vocabulary" and soon, our kids will be able to explain most of the time why they are angry or sad...


If we validate their feelings & fix the problem if possible. This will lead to a huge decrease in tantrums and to them expressing more positive feelings too. ;)


I learnt a good lesson here.. did you?

Previous Post: I Want To POOP!

I Want To POOP!

Went to my mum's place at day and found out at POOP training is not as successful as I though.

The other day, Ace was at my mum's place and suddenly, from inside the room, Ace shouted.. "Popo, can you help me?! Where is my diapers? I want to da bian!"

So my mum told him that he had to go poop in the toilet.

"No, I don't want, I don't want. I want to da bian in the diapers, I want to wear the diapers..." and then he sat on the floor, threw a tantrum and kicked his legs...

"Popo, help me quick, I want to da bian already!"

And my mum insisted that he had to go poop in the toilet.

"You don't help me, I wear the diapers myself!" declared Ace and he proceeded to take off his pants and tried to put on his diaper himself. Alas, he couldn't do it...

"Popo, please help me.. quick, my da bian is coming out!"

So my mum gave him and helped in put on his diaper.

The end result is that he pooped in the diaper again...

I wonder when he can consisitently poop in the toilet bowl...

Previous Post: Weddings Are Fun

Weddings Are Fun

Well, perhaps to Ace, weddings are really fun :)

He really had a great time and Linda and Yixing's wedding that day...

But that is the last time we will bring him to a wedding this year I think... Because he simply cannot sit still and is so picky about what he eats now... Max almost died trying to think of new ways to entertain him so that he will stay at ONE SPOT.

And then.. the funny thing is I met my long lost primary school classmate that day.. and she brought along two girls.. without me saying anything, he just went up to them and told them, "Hello, 美女！"

And then later, I met Xiao Feng and Tiffany, my long lost sunflower sister... who also has a little girl with her and Ace just gamely played with her and tried to hug and kiss her! :)

Everyone says he must have picked this up from Daddy and will turn out to be a great cassanova when he grows up.. hahaha ;)


Previous Post: You Fold Your Clothes, I Fold Mine

You Fold Your Clothes, I Fold Mine

Yipee!

Ace can finally help out with housework and do his won stuff!

He can now change in and out of his own clothes, put on his own shoes...

If you give him a magic clean mop, he even TRIES to clean the house a little...

Give him a rag and he tries to help with cleaning the table...

And the best part is that is able to help fold his own clothes after I wash them..

My only complain is that Ace changes in and out of his clothes too often.

If he is too warm, he wants to change into his sleeveless tops.. if his shirt is wet, he wants to change.. if he bathes, he wants to change.. if he is going out.. even just to go downstairs to buy something, he wants to change...

Luckily he helps to fold his clothes, if not, I think just washing and folding his clothes will make me super duper busy!

Previous Post: Shake Your Bom Bom