Childcare

"Bye bye school!!" This is the little one's favourite quote for now.



From a weekend BP -AMK child, he had upgraded to being a childcare kid(CCK). Milestone he achieved so far...

Day 1 - Cried till he lost his voice

Day 2 - Refused to sleep with the rest of the kids in the room. Slept outside the common area on the wooden bench.

Day 3 - Cried till he poo on his pants.

Day 19 - Still a crying baby suffering from separation anxiety. I wonder how long this anxiety will persist.



Every morning the moment he opens his eyes, he starts to cry which acts as an added stress on me. All the teachers & even the cleaning lady had recognized me as Ethan's mommy.They had reassured me saying "he is a very well behaved kid when you (as in Me) are not around." I see it as Ethan trying to get my attention. Our daily routine :-

7.00am Mommy wakes up - wash up get ready for work & prepare raw food or soup for dinner

8.00am Ethan wakes up

8.30am - 8.45am Goes to school

5.45pm - Mommy leaves work reaches YWCA between 6.15pm - 6.30pm.

6.30pm - 7pm - Either playground / watching TV. Mommy squeezess sometime in between preparing dinner.

7.30pm - Dinner + washing up

8.30pm - Shower

9.00pm - Playtime / reading /watching TV whilst mommy shower, clean up the kitchen wash & iron clothes

10.00pm - 11.00pm - Bedtime for Ethan

Crazy rush for the family everyday. Reckon that we are just one of the typical Singaporean family.

Cruel Fact

31st December 2010
Will mark the last day both mommy & Ethan weekdays stay at mom’s house. This will also symbolizes the end papa’s “maximum freedom” weekdays life back at our own home.

To my parents & grandma, thank you for having to accommodate 2 extras headcount for the past 21 months. Thank you for putting up all the nonsense Ethan had created.

The seniors had done their utmost best to care for Ethan. Whenever he falls sick, they fret & try to soothe the boy to make him a happy kid. Whenever he rejects his food, they try all means & ways to coax him by coming out with the little one’s favorite food so that he will not go hungry. They feel ecstatic over small reactions like a kiss or even a hug from the boy. They take care of every trivial issues concerning the little one.

Not once have they ever complained that they are tired nor have they rejected me when I asked for time off in the evenings to spend some time with friends. Not a word of complaint & not a penny more richer for taking care of Ethan.

There is nothing in this world one would yearned for, having the best of help rendered in taking care of the little one allowing a full time mommy to work in PEACE. I hoped the seniors will be less stress & happier with a kid lesser to fuss & will lead a healthier lifestyle.




3rd January 2011
Will mark the beginning of Ethan’s school life. Yes little one will be attending full day school at the child care just across our house. Someone once told me I was being cruel to put the little one in school when he is not even 3 years old. Thank you for reminding me that but on a serious note, I am left with no other alternative.

I felt bad! I felt lousy. I wanted the best of both worlds. I wanted my parents to take care of Ethan yet at the same time I wanted him to be disciplined in school. But knowing this arrangement is simply impossible, the feeling is atrocious. I was in dilemma struggling mode for a while…

To simply continue our weekdays stay at bp or to balance out family time. I choose the latter !!!

Mommy's 2nd Letter to Ethan

亲爱的宇乐,

2 years ago on 3rd Oct @ 8am, I checked myself in to Mount Alvernia bravely waiting excitedly for your arrival. Not knowing what to expect, the level of pain mothers have to go through & following blindly what was being told to . This marks the begining to my "can-never-get-enough-sleep" new phase in life.

Although at times you really drive me insane (I really mean INSANE), I can never be angry with you. Your little act, witty smile, fiery temper & stubborn character had brought heaps of splendid moments to the family.


Barney agar agar + chocolate cake - 姑妈 bought it

We celebrated your birthday by bringing you to the zoo.



Neighbour Blythe jie jie came over to sing a birthday song for you. But you were soo shy.



For the past year this is what we braved through together:-

26th Oct 09 - Prevenar Jab I

21st - 31st Dec 09 - Persistent Fever

12th Jan 10 - Prevenar Jab II

28th Jan 10 - Had tongue tied surgery @ Mount Alvernia

2nd April 10 - Diaperless in the day

19th May 10 - Finally walking

7th Jun 10 - Hand Food Mouth Disease (HFMD) with high fever, 40.1 being the highest

22nd - 26th Aug 10 - Persistent fever that lasted 5 days

8th Oct 10 - MMR (Mumps, Measles, Rubella + Chicken pox)
Graduation Jab

In summary, he has 16 teeth in all (4 more to go) & only confident enough to walk on his own @ 19 months old. When he needs to pee or big business require, he will say "hmmhmm" & run to get the potty over.

Weight: 12.8kg

Height : 0.875 metres

Favourite food : Meat - any meat can be BBQ meat, beef, chicken, mutton or pork

Favorite breakfast : Eggs - any form

Favourite bread : Pandan round bread

Daily milk consumption : More than 4 intakes of 260ml per consumption & still having his daily night feed

Favourite toy : Any ball - round objects be it orange, water-melon or moon

We had spent a total amount of $1,693.81 for all the jabs (7 jabs) taken since birth.



宇乐, 妈妈希望你健健康康, 快快乐乐.

爱你的妈妈

@ 23 months old

Ethan will be turning 2 in less than a month's time. Time really flies.

Some basic things he picked up over the past 1 month:-
- Operates a CD or DVD player
- Whines & stick like a superglue
- Keeps his shoes in the shoe cabinet at a designated place
(if that particular slot is taken up, he will throw that pair of shoes that takes up his slot on the floor & put his shoes in)

What
- Likes to reply "mai" (no in hokkien - see the potential of being a typical hokkien soldier)
- Tell us he is scared whenever he sees a real airplane or just a picture
- Pronounce banana as 'nana'

I am amazed by how kids learnt from each other.

22months

At 22months, he seems to have grown & apparently understand the instructions given to him.



His favourite cartoon turns out to be Barney (he rejects it initially) & favourite song is the Channel 8 - Monday - Sunday serial show 爱 . From Monday through Friday, he will hume the song @ 7pm.



Just the other day, I was sharing Ethan's progress with my bestie Jus. She enlightened me -- Terrible 2, Notty 3 & Fantastic 4. I was stunned. Ethan, I had always hoped you can be -- Goodie 2, Superb 3 & Amazing 4.

Boys are afterall boys. Friends always tell me no matter how, boys tend to be a level more active than girls. I wonder how true....

@ 21 months

Less than 3 months before he turns 2 years of age & the so call NOTTY TWO symptoms had surfaced. As much as I hated to say, he is even more cranky when he is sleeping. He will toss & turn & cry for nothing. ( To make myself feel better, I link this to his notty two)



Another factor might be due to the absence of his pacifier & I deemed myself as doing the right thing for refusing to "return" him the pacifier since he rejected when had HFMD more than a month ago.



His devil behaviour really live up to Ethan's name. Despite being a baby devil, he is still my beloved Ethan..

HFMD

7th June 2010 (Monday)

- As usual, left for mom's house in the morning at 0730hrs. On the way to mom's house, Ethan had his daily dosage of milk in the taxi.5 minutes drive away from mom's place, Ethan started to feel uncomfortable and vomited everything out on the taxi. I was soaked with his milk vomit. My bag, my outfit, Ethan's bag. Everything.

- Fever started to escalate after this vomiting session but given paracetamol to contain the high fever.

- Cousin Enric was diagnosed with HFMD at 11.30am.

- Mommy panicked. Requested to take a week off as I need to isolate Ethan away from the HFMD Enric.

- Fever continue to escalate @ 3pm. Sponged & fed Ethan with medicine.

- Brought him back to own house. Highest temperature attained 40.1.

- At 2130hr decided to bring him to the 24th hours clinic at Mount Alvernia.

- Despite the little kid having such high fever, we were being put at the isolation corner. Waited for 83mins to be precise just to see the doctor. The sick boy of course feeling hungry & sleepy cried & cried.

- When it was Ethan's turn, the doctor merely took a look at Ethan & diagnosed it as mild throat infection. He said panadol is enough to kill the infection. Unless otherwise we are worried he will get a cough & runny nose. Being paranoid, I requested for the medicine.

- Went home with the irrelevant medicine, all I can do is to feed him with Bhufen (above 38.5 medicine) & panadol drops concurrently.

- Damaged incurred - $45.15

Over the night, Ethan did not sleep well as he is hungry yet unable to drink milk. I had to keep sponging him becos his temperature was way too high.

8th June 2010 (Tuesday)
- Woke up crying, cannot drink & fever still remains so high. So we decided to bring Ethan to see the paediatrician at Kinderclinic.

- Despite having to wait, the waiting time is still shorter than the 24 hours clinic.

- PD diagnosed Hand Foot Mouth Disease & given spray just to numb the ulcer so that Ethan can drink better. PD advised to stay at home for the rest of the week.

- Damage incurred - $83.55

- Ethan continued to feel so uncomfortable. Unable to drink despite hungry. Per swallow of saliva results in pain causing him to yell & scream.

- At one point, his hands tremble when he held his milk bottle yet unable to drink the milk as it is causing him too much pain.

9th - 13th June 2010
We are all at home recuperating for the lost energy.